Word.ws English Dictionary

jump down someone's throat

jump down someone's throat verb: to criticise with excessive and unexpected harshness.

Verb

jump down someone's throat (third-person singular simple present jumps down someone's throat, present participle jumping down someone's throat, simple past and past participle jumped down someone's throat)

  1. (idiomatic) To criticise with excessive and unexpected harshness.
    • Try to remember next time, but don’t fret — I won’t jump down your throat if you forget.
    • Opposing counsel has a right to question you, and if you respond with smart talk or give evasive answers, opposing counsel may jump down your throat.2006, Larry Rice, The Complete Guide to Divorce Practice: Forms and Procedures for the Lawyer, 3rd edition, page 266

Forms of jump down someone's throat

third-person singular presentjumps down someone's throat
present participlejumping down someone's throat
past participlejumped down someone's throat
pastjumped down someone's throat
alternative formclimb down someone's throat
alternative formleap down someone's throat

Questions about jump down someone's throat

What does jump down someone's throat mean?
Jump down someone's throat means to criticise with excessive and unexpected harshness.
What part of speech is jump down someone's throat?
Jump down someone's throat is a verb.
What is the past tense of jump down someone's throat?
The past tense of jump down someone's throat is jumped down someone's throat.

Words near jump down someone's throat in the dictionary

  1. jump cushion
  2. jump cushions
  3. jump cut
  4. jump cuts
  5. jump down
  6. jump down someone's throat
  7. jump drive
  8. jump drives
  9. jump for joy
  10. jump host
  11. jump hosts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: jump down someone's throat (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-jump down someone's throat.ogg.

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