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

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

The animal welfare charity said the numbers and living conditions of the dogs, discovered at an undisclosed location in the UK, "had rapidly grown out of control amid extenuating family circumstances".

From BBC • Apr. 8, 2026

Last week, we asked you to tell us about your biggest money mistakes — and you opened up about everything from dicey stock-market bets to spending habits that got out of control.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 7, 2026

The war could quickly spiral out of control, even with the vast superiority of the American military, he added.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 2026

About 200 miles from Otsuchi, the nuclear plant’s operators spent the night of the tsunami working frantically in pitch-black control rooms desperately trying to stop a chain reaction that was spinning out of control.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland