pulling teeth

1 8.3

Very difficult and unpleasant to get someone to do something

idiom

Informal

: como sacar muelas

Getting him to admit his mistake was like pulling teeth.

Examples

Organizing the team meeting felt like pulling teeth this week.
Sometimes persuading children to eat their vegetables can be as hard as pulling teeth.
Getting my kids to clean their rooms is like pulling teeth.
Convincing him to help was pulling teeth!
Getting her to agree was like pulling teeth due to her stubbornness.
Negotiating the contract felt like pulling teeth because everyone had different demands.
Asking the team for feedback was pulling teeth, as they were all hesitant to speak up.

Synonyms

to pull teeth

vspulling teeth

Informal

1 7.5

To have a lot of trouble getting someone to give an answer or help

is used to talk about a difficult or unpleasant situation needing much effort

Antonyms

easy

∞ 1.0

Not hard to do, understand, or achieve

breeze

Informal

33 2.1

An easy thing to do

How Difficult

ordeal

137 4.8

pulling teeth

Informal

1 8.3

hard work

355 1.6

challenge

∞ 3.1

breeze

Informal

33 2.1

Surface Forms

pulling teeth main

Morphology

pulling + teeth

The expression uses the literal image of extracting teeth (a painful, difficult act) to metaphorically describe a task that is very hard or unpleasant, so a learner who knows 'pulling' and 'teeth' can plausibly infer a sense of difficulty or pain. However, the pragmatic nuances (e.g. reluctance, effort needed, slow progress) are metaphorical and idiomatic rather than strictly compositional, so full understanding may require exposure.

Etymology

Pulling teeth comes from the painful picture of a dentist pulling a person's teeth, something many people try to avoid because it hurts and is difficult. So, when a task is like pulling teeth, it means it is 'very difficult or unpleasant to do' and needs a lot of effort to get someone to do it.