Word.ws English Dictionary

release the kraken

release the kraken verb: to unleash a greatly destructive force.

Verb

release the kraken (third-person singular simple present releases the kraken, present participle releasing the kraken, simple past and past participle released the kraken)

  1. (idiomatic, informal) To unleash a greatly destructive force.
    • Science now supports a cognitive appraisal model for understanding why some athletes can take everything in stride while others release the kraken.2017, Lesley Paterson, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion, VeloPress, →ISBN, page 171
    • I haul the pet carrier into the house and release the kraken. Hannibal emerges from the cage, glares at me, and lumbers off toward the kitchen.2019, Tess Gerritsen, The Shape of Night: The spine-tingling thriller from the Sunday Times bestseller, Random House, →ISBN, page 15
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see release, Kraken.

Examples of release the kraken in a sentence

  • "No more 'Release the Kraken' scenarios for the time being?" "I believe so."2020, Greg Cox, The Librarians Trilogy: The Librarians and the Lost Lamp, The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase, The Librarians and the...
  • "I'm going to release the kraken," she said.2021, Brad Raffensperger, quoting Sidney Powell, Integrity Counts, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 57:

Forms of release the kraken

third-person singular presentreleases the kraken
present participlereleasing the kraken
past participlereleased the kraken
pastreleased the kraken

Origin of release the kraken

From the 1981 film Clash of the Titans.

Questions about release the kraken

What does release the kraken mean?
Release the kraken means to unleash a greatly destructive force.
How do you use release the kraken in a sentence?
"No more 'Release the Kraken' scenarios for the time being?" "I believe so."
What part of speech is release the kraken?
Release the kraken is a verb.
What is the past tense of release the kraken?
The past tense of release the kraken is released the kraken.

Words near release the kraken in the dictionary

  1. release hallucinations
  2. release mode
  3. release modes
  4. release notes
  5. release the handbrake
  6. release the kraken
  7. release time
  8. release times
  9. release version
  10. release versions
  11. release warrant

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: release the kraken (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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Cite this entry: “release the kraken.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/release_the_kraken. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.