lash out

verb

1. to burst into or resort to verbal or physical attack

2. informal,  to be extravagant, as in spending

Idioms and Phrases

Make a sudden blow or fierce verbal attack. For example, The mule lashed out with its hind legs, or After listening to Dad's criticism of his driving, Arthur lashed out at him. [Second half of 1500s]

Example Sentences

The Mexican leader lashed out at his Austrian counterpart as being “arrogant” and “bossy.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Mamdani slammed Cuomo as “a desperate man, lashing out because he knows that the one thing he’s always cared about—power—is now slipping away from him.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The goal was not subtle: They aimed to be so annoying or threatening that locals would lash out at them.

Read more on Salon

He’s not lashing out blindly against anybody to get any money at any cost.

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He lashed out at "a European Union that has betrayed its foundational principles" and serves "a globalist bureaucracy".

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• flash 
• roar 
• yell