put the fear of God into
To cause someone to fear abjectly in other contexts; to terrify completely.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“The teacher put the fear of God into the noisy students.”
“The strict manager put the fear of God into the team when he discovered the major error in their report.”
“The sudden, thunderous warning from the captain put the fear of God into the inexperienced crew, forcing them to focus entirely on the dangerous task ahead.”
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bow down before the porcelain god
Synonym of worship the porcelain god (“to vomit into a toilet bowl”).
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call someone everything but a child of God
To call someone many abusive names.
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God forbid
indicating that the occurrence of something is very undesirable
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God forfend
Don't let it be.
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God is in the detail
Expresses the idea that whatever one does should be done thoroughly; i.e. details are important.
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god that failed
A notable let-down or flop; a concept, product, or person that has failed to live up to very high expectations.
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God's eye
A decorative diamond-shaped item woven from yarn, associated with Mexican and Central and South American Native American peoples.
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God's gift
Said of someone with an inflated sense of self-importance, or (occasionally) something that is overvalued.
Last updated August 10, 2026