Phrase guide

give someone grey hair

verb · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To give someone great frustration, confusion, or anxiousness.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

The phrase is influenced by the popular belief that stress can cause the greying of hair (that link wasn't shown to be grounded scientifically until a January 2020 study on stress in mice for the Nature journal).