Meaning & use
piss off
Last updated
Meanings
phrasetransitiveinformalvulgar
To make someone very angry or annoyed.
Grammar: Takes an object: piss someone off. Often used in the passive: I was pissed off by his attitude.
Patterns
- piss someone off
- be pissed off by something
His constant complaining really pissed me off.
She was pissed off by the way they treated her.
Don't piss off the boss if you want a promotion.
phraseintransitiveinformalvulgarBritish
Used as a rude command to tell someone to go away.
Grammar: No object; used in the imperative. Common in British English.
Patterns
- piss off!
He told the reporter to piss off.
Piss off! I'm not interested in your excuses.
Common combinations
- really piss someone off
- It really pisses me off when people are late.
- piss off the neighbors
- Playing loud music at midnight will piss off the neighbors.
- be pissed off about something
- She's still pissed off about the way she was treated.
- tell someone to piss off
- He told the salesman to piss off.
Synonyms and how they differ
- annoy
- Less strong and not vulgar; 'annoy' means to make someone slightly angry, while 'piss off' is much stronger and informal.
- irritate
- Also milder and neutral in tone; 'irritate' suggests a repeated or minor annoyance, not the strong anger of 'piss off'.
- anger
- More formal and stronger; 'anger' is a general word, while 'piss off' is informal and often used in casual speech.
Opposites
Commonly confused: piss off or pissed?
piss off vs pissed
In American English, 'pissed' often means 'angry' (e.g., I'm pissed), while in British English it usually means 'drunk'. 'Piss off' is the verb phrase meaning 'to annoy' or 'go away'.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'piss off' correctly?
Choose one answer.
The correct answer is B: 'piss off' means to make someone angry, and here it takes the object 'his friends'. An is wrong because 'piss off' is not used to mean 'miss' or 'skip'; C is wrong because 'piss off' does not mean 'go' in this context (though 'piss off' can mean 'go away' as a command, it is not used like this); D is wrong because 'piss off' is not a physical action like 'put'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “piss off”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.