Meaning
To cause a disturbance, stir up trouble, or attract notice by disrupting a settled state of affairs, whether among colleagues, in an industry, or in public life. Usually mildly critical of troublemakers, though it can admire someone bold enough to challenge convention. Informal and conversational; the tone depends heavily on context, from disapproval to admiration. Calling it a nautical idiom of long standing would overstate the evidence. Regional use: General English (American origin).
Origin
The figurative sense is twentieth-century American: Etymonline attests make waves, meaning make a disturbance, from two 1959 US newspaper citations and judges it probably from boating. Nothing in the record ties it to the age of sail or to any specific naval practice, so despite its constant grouping with sailing idioms it is best described as general water imagery, as Wiktionary's derivation note - disruptions caused by waves in water - effectively concedes. The negative command don't make waves, often paired with don't rock the boat, flourished in mid-century American English, and Cambridge now records the newer attention-seeking sense as well.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- don't make waves
- made waves
Usage Examples
- The new intern has been making waves since day one, questioning every process the team has used for years.
- He had been warned twice by the editor not to make waves so close to the party conference.
- Her debut novel made waves in the crime world and was snapped up for television within a year.