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kick-ass

American  
[kik-as] / ˈkɪkˌæs /
Or kickass

adjective

Slang.

  1. strikingly or overwhelmingly tough, aggressive, powerful, or effective.

    He finally built himself a kick-ass computer.
kick ass British  

verb

  1. to be impressive, esp in a forceful way

    pop music that kicks ass
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adjective

  1. forceful, aggressive, and impressive

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
kick ass Idioms  

  1. Also, kick butt. Punish or discipline harshly; also, defeat soundly. For example, That foreman's furious; he's going to kick ass before the day is over, or Our team is out to kick butt today. [Vulgar slang; 1940s]

Etymology

Origin of kick-ass

kick + -ass

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

They kept up the pace on 1971's Master of Reality, with Osbourne describing Children Of The Grave as "the most kick-ass song we'd ever recorded".

From BBC • Jul. 23, 2025

The campaign itself has a kick-ass social media team that's churning out memes, TikToks, tweets and Instagram stories that are clever, pointed and tuned in.

From Salon • Sep. 13, 2024

“It was on my dream board, right next to ‘running a kick-ass theater company’,” he joked, of the UNC job.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 25, 2024

MM: Shades of “Dune;” another kick-ass mother/son team.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 4, 2022

There were no term limits, and those two geezers had been doing a kick-ass job of protecting user rights for over a decade.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.