Word.ws English Dictionary

kick someone when they are down

kick someone when they are down verb: to make things worse for someone who is going through a difficult time.

Verb

kick someone when they are down (third-person singular simple present kicks someone when they are down, present participle kicking someone when they are down, simple past and past participle kicked someone when they were down)

  1. (idiomatic) To make things worse for someone who is going through a difficult time.
    • They would never kick someone when they are down or give themselves an unfair advantage by cheating or stealing. The implications of this type of behavior are huge.2000, Richard Carlson, Don't Sweat the Small Stuff for Teens: Simple Ways to Keep Your Cool in Stressful Times, page 114

Synonyms of kick someone when they are down

Forms of kick someone when they are down

third-person singular presentkicks someone when they are down
present participlekicking someone when they are down
past participlekicked someone when they were down
pastkicked someone when they were down
alternative formkick someone while they are down

Questions about kick someone when they are down

What does kick someone when they are down mean?
Kick someone when they are down means to make things worse for someone who is going through a difficult time.
What part of speech is kick someone when they are down?
Kick someone when they are down is a verb.
What is the past tense of kick someone when they are down?
The past tense of kick someone when they are down is kicked someone when they were down.

Words near kick someone when they are down in the dictionary

  1. kick scooters
  2. kick shit
  3. kick some tail
  4. kick some tires
  5. kick someone out of bed
  6. kick someone when they are down
  7. kick someone's arse
  8. kick someone's ass
  9. kick someone's butt
  10. kick space
  11. kick spaces

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kick someone when they are down (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-kick someone when they are down.ogg.

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