the bejesus
noun
informal
—used for emphasis after words like scare, frighten, and beat
That movie scared the bejesus out of me.
They beat the bejesus out of the other team.
Examples of the bejesus in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
That’s a half-century of scaring the bejesus out of generations of movie- and beachgoers.
—
Marco Della Cava, USA Today, 19 June 2025
A little over two decades ago, director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland scared the bejesus out of audiences with their kinetic reinvention of the zombie apocalypse movie, 28 Days Later.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 18 June 2025
The opener features two Oakland punk teens (Jack Champion and Ji-young Yoo) and some of their rebellious friends kicking the bejesus out of neo-Nazis outside of the 924 Gilman Street club.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 2 Apr. 2025
The president doesn’t understand why Zelenskyy is not happy with Putin for invading the smaller country and beating the bejesus out of it, for decimating a generation of young Ukrainian soldiers, for breaking ceasefires and committing war crimes.
—Maureen Dowd, The Mercury News, 4 Mar. 2025
When Jennifer Lawrence isn’t full-frontally beating the bejesus out of insouciant hoodlums, that is.
—Charles Bramesco, Vulture, 10 Feb. 2025
Morato looks like a cartel Sicario and scares the bejesus out of the opposition.
—Ahmed Walid, The Athletic, 7 Feb. 2025
Those companies sued the bejesus out of prominent election deniers, including Fox News (which settled with Dominion for just under $800 million), Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, Trump sorta-lawyer-but-now-disbarred Rudy Giuliani and that dude who sells pillows.
—Anita Chabria, Los Angeles Times, 5 Nov. 2024
Zoom in: Just about every neighborhood in RVA has a house where locals went all out to scare the bejesus out of you, or just offer some whimsical holiday fun (like an alien invasion).
—Karri Peifer, Axios, 30 Oct. 2024
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Marco Della Cava, USA Today, 19 June 2025
A little over two decades ago, director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland scared the bejesus out of audiences with their kinetic reinvention of the zombie apocalypse movie, 28 Days Later.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 18 June 2025
The opener features two Oakland punk teens (Jack Champion and Ji-young Yoo) and some of their rebellious friends kicking the bejesus out of neo-Nazis outside of the 924 Gilman Street club.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 2 Apr. 2025
The president doesn’t understand why Zelenskyy is not happy with Putin for invading the smaller country and beating the bejesus out of it, for decimating a generation of young Ukrainian soldiers, for breaking ceasefires and committing war crimes.
—Maureen Dowd, The Mercury News, 4 Mar. 2025
When Jennifer Lawrence isn’t full-frontally beating the bejesus out of insouciant hoodlums, that is.
—Charles Bramesco, Vulture, 10 Feb. 2025
Morato looks like a cartel Sicario and scares the bejesus out of the opposition.
—Ahmed Walid, The Athletic, 7 Feb. 2025
Those companies sued the bejesus out of prominent election deniers, including Fox News (which settled with Dominion for just under $800 million), Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, Trump sorta-lawyer-but-now-disbarred Rudy Giuliani and that dude who sells pillows.
—Anita Chabria, Los Angeles Times, 5 Nov. 2024
Zoom in: Just about every neighborhood in RVA has a house where locals went all out to scare the bejesus out of you, or just offer some whimsical holiday fun (like an alien invasion).
—Karri Peifer, Axios, 30 Oct. 2024
Cite this Entry
“The bejesus.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20bejesus. Accessed 9 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share