kick to the curb

idiomatic phrase

informal

: to rid oneself of (someone or something) in a summary way

He just got kicked to the curb from a team with Super Bowl aspirations.

—Jared Mueller

Well, a year done and another starting. Time to purge the negative and kick it to the curb.

—Dale Merrill

especially : to end a romantic relationship with (someone) in an abrupt and often callous way

The Smiths were also going through a rough patch and had separated. "I was done with you," Will said. "You kicked me to the curb," Jada replied.

—Laura Zornosa

Examples of kick to the curb in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

So your instrument needs to be tuned to the sensitivity to be able to play different people and, at the same time, get trashed around a lot and thrown and kicked to the curb. —Mikey O'Connell, HollywoodReporter, 15 Jan. 2026

Now, after being kicked to the curb in the Big Apple and reviving his career in Indy, he’s poised to be the face of the Colts. —James Boyd, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2026

Such is the case with this genre-defiant quasi-thriller, in which a handsome but borderline unhinged Southern Californian guy (Sam Daly) becomes ostracized and kicked to the curb by his friends, and then goes on a road trip. —Randy Myers, Mercury News, 26 Nov. 2025

If that isn’t shocking enough, turns out that 35% of the Americans polled say cranberry sauce should be kicked to the curb, and 16% consider sweet potatoes/yams to be the worst thing to happen to the Thanksgiving table. —Melissa Locker, Southern Living, 14 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1984, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for kick to the curb

• blurb
• erb
• herb
• kerb
• serb
• verb
• disturb
• perturb
• reverb
• superb