Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

ruffle someone's feathers

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.74 in modern English

Syllables: ruf-fle -some-one's feath-ers
IPA

36

Scrabble Score

22

Letters

5

Syllables

12

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To unease, cause discomfort to someone.

Example Sentences

"Sutton and David Templeton both had efforts just off target as Hearts' tactics of high-tempo, pressing football ruffled the English side's feathers."
"The Spanish newspaper El País suggested that Trump’s feathers had been ruffled by a video at the same meeting, showing Meloni appearing to scold him."

Inflected Forms

ruffles someone's feathers (present, singular) ruffling someone's feathers (participle, present) ruffled someone's feathers (participle, past) ruffled someone's feathers (past)

Phrases

ruffle some feathers rustle someone's jimmies

Frequently Paired Words

ruffle some feathers rustle someone's jimmies

Synonyms

get someone's dander up raise someone's hackles aggravate annoy nettle rankle ruffle sting burn someone's ass antagonize bother disgruntle

Questions

What does ruffle someone's feathers mean?: To unease, cause discomfort to someone.

How to pronounce ruffle someone's feathers

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