to open a hornets' nest
- idiom
- Informal
:
abrir un nido de avispas
- His comments at the meeting opened a hornets' nest of criticism from the staff.
Examples
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The article opened a hornets' nest in the local community, sparking heated debates.
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She opened a hornets' nest when she criticized the policy.
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By bringing up that scandal, she opened a hornets' nest that was best left alone.
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Don't open a hornets' nest with that comment!
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By bringing up that scandal, she opened a hornets' nest that was best left alone.
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His comments at the meeting opened a hornets' nest of criticism from the staff.
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The article opened a hornets' nest in the local community, sparking heated debates.
Synonyms
48
4.8
To make people feel strong emotions like anger or fear
20
5.3
Do or say something that causes trouble and upsets other people
13
7.6
To cause people to argue or become divided on purpose
8
8.0
To cause trouble by saying things to make people argue
8
7.2
To make an argument or feeling worse by encouraging it
6
4.0
Make people feel excited or upset and attract attention
5
5.3
To cause fights or problems between people on purpose
4
6.7
To attract criticism and angry reactions for what you say or do
3
7.4
Create a difficult situation with many unexpected problems
2
3.7
To make people start talking and disagree about a topic
1
7.0
To cause many people to show strong public anger or criticism
1
3.7
To cause people to start a strong, lively discussion
1
7.4
Make people more angry and cause conflict between groups
1
9.9
To say or do things to make others angry and start fights
1
7.7
To make many people feel angry or shocked about something
1
5.4
Cause strong arguments about a topic, often on public issues
To say or do things that cause arguments and make people angry
To cause trouble between people to get attention
To say or do something that causes strong reactions and confusion among people
To cause a strong public argument that divides people
To cause disagreement between people or groups
To make people argue or fight
Suddenly bring up a shocking topic to change the tone of a discussion
Antonyms
How Controversial
Surface Forms
Morphology
The image of 'opening' a hornets' nest directly evokes provoking many angry reactions or danger, so a learner who knows 'open', 'hornet(s)' and 'nest' can infer that it means causing trouble or controversy. This metaphorical mapping is a common, easily visualized one (cf. 'stir up a hornet's nest') and follows straightforward compositional logic rather than an idiosyncratic idiom.
Etymology
The idiom open a hornets' nest comes from the image of someone opening a real hornets' nest. The angry hornets pour out and attack, so the phrase means 'to do something that causes trouble or makes people angry'.