idiom (phrase) · neutral

at one's wit's end

/ət wʌnz wɪts end/at ONE'S WIT'S end

speakingtask2

To be so worried, confused, or annoyed that you do not know what to do next.

Examples

“After hours trying to fix the software, she was at her wit's end.”

“Parents are often at their wit's end when children refuse to eat.”

“The coach was at his wit's end trying to motivate the losing team.”

Band 8 sentence

“After months trying different therapies with no improvement, the parents were at their wit's end.”

Collocations

  • be at one's wit's end trying to
  • leave someone at their wit's end

Word family

at my/your/his/her/their wit's end idiom (fixed phrase)

Common mistakes

at one's wits end→at one's wit's end

at my wit end→at my wit's end

Say it for a higher band

5very frustrated→6at the end of one's tether→7+at one's wit's end

Synonyms

at the end of one's tether

beside oneself

Easily confused

at the end of one's tether

“She was at the end of her tether after weeks of overtime.”

Related words

between a rock and a hard placescrape bymake ends meetstrapped for cashweather the stormbe up against ithit a snagbe up to one's neck (in something)

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In Hardship

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