on steroids

English

Etymology

The literal sense is from anabolic steroid use as illicit drug use for doping, to become bulked up; the figurative sense is an extension.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Prepositional phrase

on steroids

1. (idiomatic, informal) (usually after the name of a place or thing), to a greater degree, exaggerating the characteristics of the previously named object.

   Coordinate term: on wheels

   Panic is anxiety on steroids

   • c. 2000, “Processor Modes”, in (help manual)‎^[1]:

     When a processor is running in real mode, it acts like an "8088 on steroids". What this means is that it has the advantage of speed, but it otherwise accesses memory with the same restrictions of the original 8088: a limit of 1 MB of addressable RAM, and slow memory access that doesn't take advantage of the full 32-bit processing of modern CPUs.

   • 2005 September 19, Tariq Malik, “NASA's New Moon Plans: 'Apollo on Steroids'”, in space.com‎^[2]:
   • 2016 October 14, “Spin To Survive: How 'Saturn On Steroids' Keeps From Self-Destructing”, in NPR‎^[3]:

     "This planet is much larger than Jupiter or Saturn, and its ring system is roughly 200 times larger than Saturn's rings are today," Mamajek said at the time.
     "You could think of it as kind of a super Saturn."
     Or, as others have put it, Saturn on steroids.

   • 2019 June 8, Kitty Empire, “Madonna: Madame X review – a splendidly bizarre return to form”, in The Guardian‎^[4]:

     Medellín, the first track from Madonna’s 14th studio album, arrived like La Isla Bonita on steroids

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see on,‎ steroids.

Translations

to a greater degree

• Finnish: potenssiin kymmenen
• German: auf Anabolika, auf Speed
• Italian: all'ennesima potenza

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