to poke the bear
3
8.4
- idiom
- Informal
:
provocar
- When dealing with her anger, it's best not to poke the bear and instead keep calm.
They start, you know, poking the bear of of fear of of, you know, questioning if if he's being faithful, all these different things.
- They start, you know, poking the bear of of fear of of, you know, questioning if if he's being faithful, all these different things.
Examples
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Just know when you poke the bear, sometimes the bear might poke back.
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- Going around poking the bear like this, my money says someone put her lights out already.
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You really wanna poke the bear, David?
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Once again, he looks to be poking the bear.
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And I know the way to do that is don't poke the bear, OK?
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And it seemed like they didn't want to poke the bear by making it public.
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I wouldn't poke the bear, pal.
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I'm thinking that maybe we don't poke the bear.
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Mister... if you want to poke the bear, oh, you've come to the right man.
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Don't poke the bear.
Blog text (23)
Synonyms
144
3.6
Annoy someone again and again to make them react
48
4.8
To make people feel strong emotions like anger or fear
8
7.7
To annoy someone by teasing them repeatedly
1
7.8
To do or say something on purpose to upset someone and see their reaction
1
8.7
Tease someone to make them react
Antonyms
How Provocative
- NSFW
72
7.7
- Informal
3
8.4
115
3.7
63
6.9
246
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The image of 'poking' a dangerous animal like a 'bear' transparently suggests provoking something that will respond harmfully, so a learner who knows 'poke' and 'bear' can plausibly infer the general warning sense. However, the phrase is a conventionalized metaphor used idiomatically to mean 'deliberately provoke a dangerous or volatile person/situation,' so full understanding requires recognizing the figurative use rather than a literal action.
Etymology
Poke the bear comes from the image of someone using a stick to poke a sleeping bear, which wakes up angry and dangerous. So, to poke the bear means 'to deliberately provoke someone or something dangerous'.