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“trouble”

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18 matches

1. In hot water

   Meaning In trouble or a difficult situation, often due to one's own actions, facing consequences with a sense of being scalded or trapped. It evokes discomfort.

   Also known as In the hot water

2. Nip it in the bud

   Meaning To stop something early before it grows or worsens, cutting off trouble at its source with swift, decisive action.

   Also known as In the bud · Nip the bud

3. Dinna fash yourself

   Meaning Do not worry or trouble yourself, and do not make unnecessary effort over the matter. Regional, friendly and usually reassuring. 'Dinna' is Scots, not merely an eye-dialect spelling of standard English…

   Also known as Dinna fash · Do not fash yourself

4. Let sleeping dogs lie

   Meaning To avoid stirring up trouble or revisiting a settled issue, choosing peace over provocation even if it means leaving things unresolved. It suggests letting dormant problems rest.

   Also known as Let dogs lie

5. Hunky-dory

   Meaning Fine, satisfactory, or proceeding without trouble. Current, light-hearted, and slightly old-fashioned Regional use: United States.

   Also known as hunkey dora · hunkey dorey · hunkey dory · hunky dory

6. In the soup

   Meaning In a messy trouble or fix, deep.

7. Off the hook

   Meaning Freed from responsibility, trouble, or obligation, escaping a sticky situation with relief or luck. It carries a tone of liberation or sly evasion, used for dodging blame, chores, or peril, blending triumph…

8. Queer street

   Meaning A difficult or precarious situation, especially financial trouble. The expression is dated and may be misunderstood because queer now has prominent identity-related meanings.

   Also known as Down Queer Street · In Queer Street

9. Kick up a fuss

   Meaning … drawing attention to a grievance with exaggerated reaction. It suggests stirring trouble like dust kicked into the air-visible, disruptive, and hard to ignore-often with a tone of annoyance or defiance…

10. Don't rock the boat

    Meaning To avoid stirring trouble or change, keeping things steady.

11. In the nick of time

    Meaning … or acting just before it's too late, at the critical last moment when delay would mean failure or disaster. It conveys urgency and relief, suggesting a narrow escape from trouble, often with a dramatic flair…

    Also known as In the nick · Nick of time

12. A thorn in your side

    Meaning A person or problem that causes persistent trouble or irritation. Side and flesh versions coexist, but they have distinct biblical textual histories. Regional use: Biblical English; now widespread.

    Also known as A thorn in one's side

13. Keep your nose clean

    Meaning Stay out of trouble or vice, all clear.

    Also known as Nose clean

14. Ruffle some feathers

    Meaning To upset or annoy people, stirring trouble like ruffling a bird's plumage-disrupting calm with a flap of dissent.

15. The root of all evil

    Meaning … from which serious wrongdoing, corruption, or broader trouble grows. The biblical subject is covetousness or love of money, not money by itself. Regional use: Late Middle English biblical translation; now…

    Also known as The love of money is the root of all evil

16. Batten down the hatches

    Meaning To prepare thoroughly for trouble or danger, securing everything tight.

    Also known as Batten the hatches · Down the hatches

17. Make a rod for your own back

    Meaning To set up your own trouble, self-made.

18. Make waves

    Origin From 20th-century America, tied to boating; waves meant trouble, slang by 1960s for stir. A 1962 'Time' uses it for a rebel's splash.

    Also known as Make the waves