fit to be tied

UK/fɪt tuː biː ˈtaɪ̯d/US/fɪt tu bi ˈtaɪ̯d/

fit to be tied adjective: very agitated or distressed; also, very angry; enraged, furious.

Adjective

fit to be tied (not comparable)

(idiomatic, informal) Very agitated or distressed; also, very angry; enraged, furious.
- […] Mrs. Pepper reprimanded the master in the middle of the Park, before all the quality—Sunday afternoon, and the band playing, and the officers laughing, and he fit to be tied.1838 April, “Ensign O’Donoghue’s Packet from Belgium”, in Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country, volume XVII, number C, London: James Fraser, […], →OCLC, page 446, column 2
- A thought struck him: he would play off the old lady for her ill-breeding, and he imparted his plan to Filagree. Shortly, they were whisked into a [train] tunnel, and all was darkness. Smack! Smack! from Cromwell, and ditto, ditto, from the Muffin, as they faithfully imitated loud kissing. It was...1849, [Sir Richard Levinge, 7th Baronet], chapter VI, in Cromwell Doolan; or, Life in the Army. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 132
Synonyms:

ready to be tied, ropeable, agitated, angry, annoyed, apoplectic, bad-tempered, berserk, big mad, blood-boiling

fit to be tied meaning in Tamil

fit to be tied in Tamil

மன உலைச்சல் நிறைந்த, கிளர்ச்சியடைந்த, கோபங்கொண்ட

Examples of fit to be tied in a sentence

It was pitch dark, and the old lady was "fit to be tied." "Girls, what are you about?" Smack!1849, [Sir Richard Levinge, 7th Baronet], chapter VI, in Cromwell Doolan; or, Life in the Army. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […]...
I was as one distraught, as one fit to be tied.1859 April 2, “The Reverend Alfred Hoblush Finds a New Broom”, in Charles Dickens, editor, Household Words. A Weekly Journal, volume XIX...
Some girls can set around until they're blue moulded, and never a feller to ask 'em, and others the boys'll fret and pleg until they're fit to be tied, with nerves!1915, Kathleen Norris, chapter VIII, in The Story of Julia Page, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, page 368:
[…] I was fit to be tied though I wouldnt give in with that gentleman of fashion staring down at me with his glasses and him the other side of me talking about [Baruch] Spinoza […]1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 18: Penelope]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part III [Nostos], page 719:

Synonyms of fit to be tied

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All synonyms of fit to be tied

Origin of fit to be tied

From fit (“proper, suitable; prepared, ready”, adjective) + to (infinitive-marking particle) + be (auxiliary passive-voice verb) + tied (“attached or fastened by string or the like; bound”, adjective), probably referring to someone being so agitated or angry that they need to be physically restrained to prevent harm to themselves and/or others.

Questions about fit to be tied

What does fit to be tied mean?: Fit to be tied means very agitated or distressed; also, very angry; enraged, furious.
What is fit to be tied in Tamil?: Fit to be tied in Tamil is மன உலைச்சல் நிறைந்த, கிளர்ச்சியடைந்த, கோபங்கொண்ட. See Fit to be tied meaning in Tamil.
How do you use fit to be tied in a sentence?: It was pitch dark, and the old lady was "fit to be tied." "Girls, what are you about?" Smack!
What part of speech is fit to be tied?: Fit to be tied is an adjective.
How do you pronounce fit to be tied?: Fit to be tied is pronounced /fɪt tuː biː ˈtaɪ̯d/ (UK).

Words near fit to be tied in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: fit to be tied (page history and authors); fit to be tied (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-fit to be tied.ogg.

Cite this entry: “fit to be tied.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fit_to_be_tied. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.