go ballistic

idiom

informal

1

: to become very angry

Dad went ballistic when he saw the dent in his car.

2

US : to become very excited

The crowd was going ballistic as the runner took the lead.

Examples of go ballistic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

With that in mind, Onya and Arrietty go outside while Lexi’s tarp is drying and use it to spray-paint their outfits on, resulting in a giant brown splotch that Lexi then sees and goes ballistic over. —Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 7 Feb. 2025

That bill was set for passage this week before Elon Musk went ballistic on social platform X, pointing out some real extraneous spending, as well as some misinformation, about what was in the bill. —Jonathan Easley, The Hill, 20 Dec. 2024

In a paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Thorogood and his colleagues share how the squirting cucumber goes ballistic. —Carolyn Wilke, New York Times, 25 Nov. 2024

And when his squad tied the game in the bottom of the fifth inning at 2-2, Mahomes went ballistic in his suite to the point of screaming in the face of a former teammate wearing Yankees gear. —Scott Thompson, Fox News, 10 Oct. 2024

Manager Bud Black went ballistic and immediately got tossed. —Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post, 18 June 2024

When all this was announced, the internet went ballistic. —Rob Ledonne, Billboard, 12 Dec. 2024

So, when Favre came out to speak at former President Donald Trump's rally at the Resch Center, the crowd went ballistic for one of their Packer legends. —Scott Thompson, Fox News, 31 Oct. 2024

Already at 25 Runs / 26 RBI / 12 HR / 2 SB, this kid’s going ballistic in Triple-A. Orelvis Martinez, SS, TOR — The 22-year-old top prospect is annihilating minor league pitching and the Blue Jays have an opening in the infield. —John Laghezza, The Athletic, 25 Apr. 2024

Rhymes for go ballistic

• agonistic
• altruistic
• animistic
• aphoristic
• atheistic
• cabalistic
• calvinistic
• chauvinistic
• dualistic
• egoistic
• egotistic
• eucharistic