grind one's gears

English

Etymology

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Pronunciation

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Verb

grind one's gears (third-person singular simple present grinds one's gears, present participle grinding one's gears, simple past and past participle ground one's gears)

1. (informal) To annoy or irritate one.

   Synonyms: chap someone's hide, get someone's goat; see also Thesaurus:annoy

   It really grinds my gears when inconsiderate people litter.

   • 2017 July 17, Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff, “Is Love Racist? The TV show laying our biases bare”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Yes it has a clickbaity title, and yes, this show will grind the gears of thousands – but it should. It will open everyone’s eyes to the segregated world of dating[.]