go postal
English · Thesaurus
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
go postal
- /ˌɡəʊ ˈpəʊstl̩/ UK
- /ˌɡoʊ ˈpoʊstəl/ US
Where it comes from
From go (“to become”) + postal (“relating to the collection, sorting and delivery of mail”), from a number of incidents, mostly gun violence, perpetrated by disgruntled U.S. Postal Service workers on co-workers in the United States in the mid 1980s.
verb goes postal · going postal · went postal · gone postal
-
To become aggressive and erratic, especially due to stress; specifically, to carry out a shooting spree at a workplace environment; also (more generally) to become very angry; to lose one's temper.
Violence that spills in from the streets may be less worrisome than the worker rampages, to judge by the attentive audience of personnel managers (and the consultants available for hire) at "A Growing American Phenomenon: Workplace Violence." The symposium was sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service, w
Similar: run amok, crash out, Note: All terms are idiomatic unless stated otherwise., blow a fuse, blow a gasket, blow one's stack, blow one's top, cut up nasty, cut up rough, do one's block, do one's nut, flip one's lid
Translations
Every language
verb to become aggressive and erratic
| Português | surtar |
|---|---|
| Français | péter un câble |
| Deutsch | ausrasten |
Talk about this word "go postal." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/go%20postal. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. go postal. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/go%20postal "go postal." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/go%20postal.Cite this
@misc{go_postal_2026,
title = {go postal},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/go%20postal},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
