Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

stir up a hornets' nest

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.13 in modern English

Syllables
stir up a hor-net-s' nest
IPA
23
Scrabble Score
18
Letters
3
Syllables
11
Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To do or say something that causes a lot of trouble or controversy.

Inflected Forms

stirs up a hornets' nest (present, singular) stirring up a hornets' nest (participle, present) stirred up a hornets' nest (participle, past) stirred up a hornets' nest (past) kick a hornets' nest (alternative)

Questions

What does stir up a hornets' nest mean?
To do or say something that causes a lot of trouble or controversy.

How to pronounce stir up a hornets' nest

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “stir up a hornets' nest”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “stir up a hornets' nest”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “stir up a hornets' nest” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.