for God's sake

for God's sake

1. An exclamation of anger, surprise, or impatience.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:for the love of God

   For God's sake, don't scare me like that!

   Put some pants on, for God's sake!

2. Indicating a heartfelt or urgent request.

   Synonym: please

   • 1850, Edgar Allan Poe, “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”, in The works of the late Edgar Allan Poe:

     “For God's sake!—quick!—quick!—put me to sleep—or, quick!—waken me!—quick!—I say to you that I am dead!”

   • 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde:

     ‘Utterson,’ said the voice, ‘for God's sake, have mercy!’

• Sometimes, though not always, made plural to for God's sakes in American usage.
• There are many variants which use euphemisms or dysphemisms in place of God, e.g. for fuck's sake.