bone in the throat
- idiom
:
piedra en el zapato
- For years, the unresolved contract remained a bone in the throat of management.
Examples
-
This issue has become a real bone in the throat for me.
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Her criticism was like a bone in the throat that he couldn't ignore.
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The delays in the project became a real bone in the throat for the team.
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I feel like I have a bone in my throat when I think about that problem.
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The ongoing feud between the two neighbors has become a bone in the throat for the entire community.
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His constant negativity has turned into a bone in the throat for his coworkers.
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The unresolved issue has become a bone in the throat for our team's progress.
Synonyms
11
4.1
A person or thing that is annoying and causes trouble
Antonyms
How Troublesome
- Informal
1
7.0
62
3.6
26
2.8
29
2.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase evokes the literal image of a bone stuck in the throat, which directly maps onto the idea of something causing persistent irritation or difficulty; this physical-to-figurative mapping is easy to infer. Because the idiomatic sense is a straightforward extension of the literal constituents ('bone' + 'in' + 'throat'), a B1 learner who knows the words would very likely deduce the intended meaning.
Etymology
Bone in the throat probably comes from the image of a small bone stuck in someone's throat, making them cough and feel uncomfortable. That's why it means 'a constant irritation' or 'something hard to ignore'.