out of control

Idioms  

1. Also, out of hand. No longer under management, direction, or regulation; unmanageable or unruly. For example, Housing costs are out of control, or The children were getting out of hand again. The first term uses control in the sense of “restraint,” a usage dating from the late 1500s; the variant uses hand in the sense of “power” or “authority,” and dates from the late 1800s.

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Example Sentences

Openers Alice Capsey and Sophia Dunkley fell cheaply before Amy Jones made a fluent 67 from 48 balls, but the run-rate climbed out of control as they collapsed from 120-3.

From BBC • May 28, 2026

Growth valuations aren’t even that out of control, so strong earnings could certainly push the stocks higher.

From Barron's • May 11, 2026

Because if we’re not schooling people, it’s going to become more rampant than it already is, and it is out of control.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 11, 2026

However, the system did not stop the suspect, who spun out of control after being tapped by the Grappler and crossed three lanes of traffic before crashing into a wall, according to television footage.

From Los Angeles Times • May 7, 2026

By this time the craze for Internet stocks was completely out of control and had infected the Stanford University medical community.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis