See ruffle some feathers in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "Evoking the image of roosters, who ruffle their neck feathers when threatened. OED's earliest attestation is from 1829. Perhaps a variant of an earlier phrase \"ruffle the tempers\", attested since at least 1722.",
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},
{
"form": "ruffle feathers",
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]
},
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"name": "en-verb"
}
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"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
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"text": "Any frank discussion of politics is sure to ruffle some feathers.",
"type": "example"
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144,
163
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"ref": "1849, The Farmer's Magazine:",
"text": "They were all aware that there had lately been some discussion which had ruffled the feathers of the aristocracy […] He had, indeed, no wish to ruffle the feathers of gentlemen who might render assistance to them; and if he could stand between the two parties, and make peace, most happy would he be to do so.",
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"ref": "1976 August 28, David P. Brill, “Talking Politics”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 9, page 11:",
"text": "Plainclothes vice squad detectives played the [gay] bars and waited to be propositioned, or asked out, or something, and bang! According to those old enough to remember […] the police found themselves arresting legislators, employees of the mayor's office, and even some off-duty cops. So many prominent feathers were ruffled that it was decided that Beantown's police had better tend to more important, but less personally risky, endeavors.",
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"ref": "2023 September 30, Hannah Murphy, “The wildest job in Silicon Valley”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 17:",
"text": "Asking multiple territorial sales teams to share ideas and resources ruffled feathers.",
"type": "quotation"
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],
"glosses": [
"To cause a disturbance; to arouse resentment, anger, or concern."
],
"id": "en-ruffle_some_feathers-en-verb-UmwDOOM4",
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"(informal, figuratively) To cause a disturbance; to arouse resentment, anger, or concern."
],
"related": [
{
"word": "ruffle someone's feathers"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "cause a stir"
},
{
"word": "make waves"
},
{
"word": "poke the bear"
}
],
"tags": [
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"word": "ruffle some feathers"
}
{
"etymology_text": "Evoking the image of roosters, who ruffle their neck feathers when threatened. OED's earliest attestation is from 1829. Perhaps a variant of an earlier phrase \"ruffle the tempers\", attested since at least 1722.",
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73,
93
],
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144,
163
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"ref": "1849, The Farmer's Magazine:",
"text": "They were all aware that there had lately been some discussion which had ruffled the feathers of the aristocracy […] He had, indeed, no wish to ruffle the feathers of gentlemen who might render assistance to them; and if he could stand between the two parties, and make peace, most happy would he be to do so.",
"type": "quotation"
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{
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304,
325
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],
"ref": "1976 August 28, David P. Brill, “Talking Politics”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 9, page 11:",
"text": "Plainclothes vice squad detectives played the [gay] bars and waited to be propositioned, or asked out, or something, and bang! According to those old enough to remember […] the police found themselves arresting legislators, employees of the mayor's office, and even some off-duty cops. So many prominent feathers were ruffled that it was decided that Beantown's police had better tend to more important, but less personally risky, endeavors.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
69,
85
]
],
"ref": "2023 September 30, Hannah Murphy, “The wildest job in Silicon Valley”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 17:",
"text": "Asking multiple territorial sales teams to share ideas and resources ruffled feathers.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To cause a disturbance; to arouse resentment, anger, or concern."
],
"links": [
[
"disturbance",
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],
[
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],
[
"anger",
"anger"
],
[
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"concern"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(informal, figuratively) To cause a disturbance; to arouse resentment, anger, or concern."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "cause a stir"
},
{
"word": "make waves"
},
{
"word": "poke the bear"
}
],
"tags": [
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]
}
],
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"tags": [
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"word": "ruffle some feathers"
}
Download raw JSONL data for ruffle some feathers meaning in English (3.8kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (ccec6f1 and 4deed51). 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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