have a fit

Idioms  

1. Also,;; have kittens. Become extremely upset. For example, She'll have a fit when she sees Anne wearing the same dress, or Mom had a conniption fit when she heard about the broken mirror, or Don't take a fit—the car's not really damaged, or Jill was having kittens over the spoiled cake. One can also, as in His dithering about punctuation is enough to give me fits. Fit and fits, along with conniption fit, have been used in hyperbolic expressions to denote a bout of hysterics since the 1830s; throw a fit was first recorded in 1906, and have a fit in 1924; have kittens, alluding to being so upset as to bear kittens, also dates from about 1900.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

have a fit

So I continued with my own research, calling someone I was sure would have a fit about the idea: Los Angeles County Hispanic Republican Club President David Hernandez.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 2026

If nothing else, the environmentalists would have a fit!

From Slate ● Apr. 1, 2025

“I knew people were going to have a fit, and they did, and he just did it anyway,” said New York City Council member Gale Brewer, speaking of Iweala.

From New York Times ● Apr. 26, 2023

“I witnessed grown men have a fit like a 6-year-old because a staff member wouldn’t let them use their cellphone.”

From Washington Post ● Sep. 25, 2022

The children remembered Mr. Poe because he always had a cold and was constantly excusing himself from the table to have a fit of coughing in the next room.

From "The Bad Beginning" by Lemony Snicket

Related Words

• blow up
• boil over
• erupt
• rampage
• roar
• seethe
• tear