get on someone's case
get on someone's case verb: to lecture, berate, or complain to somebody, especially to find fault or criticize.
Verb
get on someone's case (third-person singular simple present gets on someone's case, present participle getting on someone's case, simple past got on someone's case, past participle (UK) got on someone's case or (US) gotten on someone's case)
- To lecture, berate, or complain to somebody, especially to find fault or criticize.
- His boss was always getting on his case about his standards of dress, even though he worked well and seldom left the back room.
Synonyms of get on someone's case
Forms of get on someone's case
| third-person singular present | gets on someone's case |
|---|---|
| present participle | getting on someone's case |
| past | got on someone's case |
| past participle UK | got on someone's case |
| past participle US | gotten on someone's case |
| alternative form | on someone's case |
| alternative form | be on someone's case |
| alternative form | on someone's back |
Questions about get on someone's case
- What does get on someone's case mean?
- Get on someone's case means to lecture, berate, or complain to somebody, especially to find fault or criticize.
- What part of speech is get on someone's case?
- Get on someone's case is a verb.
- What is the past tense of get on someone's case?
- The past tense of get on someone's case is got on someone's case.
Words near get on someone's case in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: get on someone's case (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-get on someone's case.ogg.
Cite this entry: “get on someone's case.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/get_on_someone%27s_case. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.