"hornets' nest" meaning in English

See hornets' nest in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: hornets' nests [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|head=hornets' nest}} hornets' nest (plural hornets' nests)
  1. (literal) A hornets' nest. Synonyms: hornet's nest Translations (a hornets' nest): herhiläispesä (Finnish), Hornissennest [neuter] (German), osir [masculine] (Slovene)
    Sense id: en-hornets'_nest-en-noun-2yxIsLs- Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 57 43 Disambiguation of "a hornets' nest": 100 0
  2. (figurative) An unpleasant or controversial situation likely to be exacerbated by outside involvement. Tags: figuratively Translations (an unpleasant or controversial situation): 馬蜂窩 (Chinese Mandarin), 马蜂窝 (mǎfēngwō) (Chinese Mandarin), wespennest [neuter] (Dutch), ampiaispesä (Finnish), Wespennest [neuter] (German), darázsfészek (Hungarian), оси́ное гнездо́ (osínoje gnezdó) [neuter] (Russian), osinje gnijezdo [neuter] (Serbo-Croatian), nido de avispas (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-hornets'_nest-en-noun-utGeYfKN Disambiguation of 'an unpleasant or controversial situation': 0 100

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for hornets' nest meaning in English (3.2kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "hornets' nests",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "hornets' nest"
      },
      "expansion": "hornets' nest (plural hornets' nests)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "57 43",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A hornets' nest."
      ],
      "id": "en-hornets'_nest-en-noun-2yxIsLs-",
      "links": [
        [
          "hornet",
          "hornet"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "literal",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(literal) A hornets' nest."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "word": "hornet's nest"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "a hornets' nest",
          "word": "herhiläispesä"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "a hornets' nest",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "Hornissennest"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "code": "sl",
          "lang": "Slovene",
          "sense": "a hornets' nest",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "osir"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1902, Francis Lynde, The Master of Appleby",
          "text": "Now what a-devil has set this hornet's nest of theirs abuzz so suddenly?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Tom Peavler, The Adjustment",
          "text": "Those articles in the tabloids stirred up a real hornets' nest.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An unpleasant or controversial situation likely to be exacerbated by outside involvement."
      ],
      "id": "en-hornets'_nest-en-noun-utGeYfKN",
      "links": [
        [
          "unpleasant",
          "unpleasant"
        ],
        [
          "controversial",
          "controversial"
        ],
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ],
        [
          "exacerbate",
          "exacerbate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) An unpleasant or controversial situation likely to be exacerbated by outside involvement."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "an unpleasant or controversial situation",
          "word": "馬蜂窩"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "mǎfēngwō",
          "sense": "an unpleasant or controversial situation",
          "word": "马蜂窝"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "an unpleasant or controversial situation",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "wespennest"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "an unpleasant or controversial situation",
          "word": "ampiaispesä"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "an unpleasant or controversial situation",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "Wespennest"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "an unpleasant or controversial situation",
          "word": "darázsfészek"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "osínoje gnezdó",
          "sense": "an unpleasant or controversial situation",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "оси́ное гнездо́"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "an unpleasant or controversial situation",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "osinje gnijezdo"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "an unpleasant or controversial situation",
          "word": "nido de avispas"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "hornets' nest"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "hornets' nests",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "hornets' nest"
      },
      "expansion": "hornets' nest (plural hornets' nests)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A hornets' nest."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "hornet",
          "hornet"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "literal",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(literal) A hornets' nest."
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1902, Francis Lynde, The Master of Appleby",
          "text": "Now what a-devil has set this hornet's nest of theirs abuzz so suddenly?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Tom Peavler, The Adjustment",
          "text": "Those articles in the tabloids stirred up a real hornets' nest.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An unpleasant or controversial situation likely to be exacerbated by outside involvement."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "unpleasant",
          "unpleasant"
        ],
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          "controversial"
        ],
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ],
        [
          "exacerbate",
          "exacerbate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) An unpleasant or controversial situation likely to be exacerbated by outside involvement."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "hornet's nest"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "a hornets' nest",
      "word": "herhiläispesä"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "a hornets' nest",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Hornissennest"
    },
    {
      "code": "sl",
      "lang": "Slovene",
      "sense": "a hornets' nest",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "osir"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "an unpleasant or controversial situation",
      "word": "馬蜂窩"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "mǎfēngwō",
      "sense": "an unpleasant or controversial situation",
      "word": "马蜂窝"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "an unpleasant or controversial situation",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "wespennest"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "an unpleasant or controversial situation",
      "word": "ampiaispesä"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "an unpleasant or controversial situation",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Wespennest"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "an unpleasant or controversial situation",
      "word": "darázsfészek"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "osínoje gnezdó",
      "sense": "an unpleasant or controversial situation",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "оси́ное гнездо́"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "an unpleasant or controversial situation",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "osinje gnijezdo"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "an unpleasant or controversial situation",
      "word": "nido de avispas"
    }
  ],
  "word": "hornets' nest"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-24 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (82c8ff9 and f4967a5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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