Idiom: ruffle someone's feathers
Meaning
Idiom: ruffle someone's feathers
- to make someone upset or bothered
Example sentences
— When I go to a party and talk to other guys, it always ruffles my boyfriend's feathers.
— Don't laugh and giggle really loudly around my dad or you'll ruffle his feathers.
— My seven-year-old son really ruffled my grandmother's feathers when he corrected her about her age in front of everyone.
— Every single time you drink too much you ruffle someone's feathers. This event is really important—maybe you shouldn't drink anything tonight.
— You're definitely going to ruffle the director's feathers if you make him travel in coach rather than business class.
— We don't have the budget but we agreed to have a cocktail party after the event because we didn't want to ruffle our client's feathers.
— Asking my boss about whether or not we are going to get a bonus this year really ruffled his feathers.
— Where should we seat my uncle at the dinner? He always ruffles people's feathers so we need to think about this carefully.
Synonyms
- step/tread on someone's toes
- rub the wrong way
- get on one's nerves
- drive up the wall
- get under one's skin
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