horse's ass

Meanings

1. 1nouncountableinformaloffensive

   A very stupid or annoying person; a rude insult for someone you dislike.

   Grammar: Countable and used of one person: he's a horse's ass. The plural is horse's asses, though it is rare.

   Patterns

   • be a horse's ass
   • act like a horse's ass
   • make a horse's ass of yourself

   He shouted at the waiter for no reason and made a horse's ass of himself.

   Don't be a horse's ass; just apologize and move on.

   Everyone at the table thought the loud guest was a complete horse's ass.

2. 2nounsingularinformaloffensive

   A foolish or embarrassing mistake that makes you look ridiculous.

   Grammar: Often in the fixed phrase 'make a horse's ass of yourself', meaning to embarrass yourself.

   Patterns

   • make a horse's ass of yourself

   I tripped on stage and made a horse's ass of myself in front of the whole class.

   If you argue with the referee, you'll just make a horse's ass of yourself.

Word forms

Common combinations

a complete horse's ass

The new manager acted like a complete horse's ass at the meeting.

make a horse's ass of yourself

He made a horse's ass of himself by laughing during the ceremony.

behave like a horse's ass

Stop behaving like a horse's ass and listen to her.

call someone a horse's ass

She called him a horse's ass after he cut in line.

Synonyms and how they differ

jerk

Also an insult for an unpleasant person, but much milder and more common in everyday speech.

idiot

Focuses on stupidity rather than rudeness, and is less vulgar than this phrase.

fool

An older, gentler word for a silly person; it does not carry the crude force of this phrase.

Word family

ass noun

A rude word for a stupid person or for a donkey; the base of this phrase.

Commonly confused: horse's ass or horse's mouth?

Practice

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