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Synonyms

bone to pick

Cultural  

  1. Having a “bone to pick with someone” means having a grievance that needs to be talked out: “I have a bone to pick with you, Wallace; I heard how you criticized me at the meeting last night.”

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Last year, Ripple Chief Executive Brad Garlinghouse had a bone to pick with banks, saying they had shut him and his industry out.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 14, 2025

Our only bone to pick here is that Nov. 26 is being described as “after the election.”

From Slate • Sep. 7, 2024

Police said one of its "brave" officers - who had a bone to pick - found the discovery was of a more humerus nature.

From BBC • Apr. 6, 2023

But, for this reason alone, I have a bone to pick with garlic salt.

From Salon • Mar. 4, 2023

“I got a bone to pick with you, Zhang. You can turn into an eagle? And a bear?”

From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.