to ruffle some feathers
9
7.2
- idiom
- Informal
:
molestar
- When he suggested a change to the company's policy, he knew he would ruffle some feathers among the management team.
- smooth ruffled feathers
- soothe ruffled feathers
- ruffle a few feathers
Examples
-
I speak my mind, and sometimes that ruffles some feathers.
-
Disclaimer: I know this is going to ruffle some feathers, and I'm fine with that.
Blog text (16) -
I mean, that is the goal sometimes, to just ruffle some feathers, you know?
-
See, now there is an opinion, and of course, it is going to ruffle some feathers.
Blog text (20) -
My comment appears to have ruffled a few feathers.
Blog text (16) -
Though why that should ruffle your feathers is something of a mystery.
Fiction book (1990) -
Update: Looks like we ruffled some feathers in the Transition Towns' neck of the woods.
Blog text (8) -
Of course, Microsoft is no stranger to ruffling feathers lately.
Blog text (25) -
I've already started to ruffle some feathers by letting everyone know how I was treated by them.
Blog text (9) -
Any time you have a disruptive technology like this, you're going to ruffle some feathers.
Blog text (14)
Synonyms
524
2.8
Cause a person to feel hurt, upset and angry because of your words or actions
246
1.0
Make someone slightly angry or bothered by small repeated actions
144
3.6
Annoy someone again and again to make them react
63
6.9
Make someone annoyed, often by small things
48
4.8
To make people feel strong emotions like anger or fear
31
4.1
Make someone feel slightly upset or annoyed
20
5.3
Do or say something that causes trouble and upsets other people
8
8.0
To cause trouble by saying things to make people argue
7
4.9
To make someone feel worried or uneasy
5
5.3
To cause fights or problems between people on purpose
4
7.4
To annoy someone a lot by small things another person does
2
6.4
Complain loudly about something small
1
7.9
To make someone angry or upset
1
7.8
To do or say something on purpose to upset someone and see their reaction
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 lot of trouble and anger among people
Antonyms
How Upsetting
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb 'ruffle' already carries the meaning 'to unsettle or irritate', and when combined with 'feathers' it evokes an obvious physical metaphor (disturbing feathers) that maps directly onto upsetting people. This image-based, compositional mapping is easily inferable by a B1 learner who knows the constituent words and common collocational patterns.
Etymology
The idiom ruffle some feathers comes from the picture of touching a bird and making its smooth feathers messy, and to ruffle them makes the bird nervous or angry. So the phrase means 'to upset or annoy people' because you have disturbed their calm.