bristle
Americannoun
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bristles
plural
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one of the short, stiff, coarse hairs of certain animals, especially hogs, used extensively in making brushes.
-
anything resembling these hairs.
verb (used without object)
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bristles,
present (3rd person singular)
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bristled,
past participle, past
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bristling
present participle
-
to stand or rise stiffly, like bristles.
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to erect the bristles, as an irritated animal (often followed byup ).
The hog bristled up.
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to become rigid with anger or irritation.
The man bristled when I asked him to move.
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to be thickly set or filled with something suggestive of bristles.
The plain bristled with bayonets. The project bristled with difficulties.
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to be visibly roused or stirred (usually followed byup ).
verb (used with object)
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bristles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
bristled,
past participle, past
-
bristling
present participle
-
to erect like bristles.
The rooster bristled his crest.
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to furnish with a bristle or bristles.
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to make bristly.
noun
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any short stiff hair of an animal or plant
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something resembling these hair
toothbrush bristle
verb
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to stand up or cause to stand up like bristles
the angry cat's fur bristled
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to show anger, indignation, etc
she bristled at the suggestion
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(intr) to be thickly covered or set
the target bristled with arrows
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(intr) to be in a state of agitation or movement
the office was bristling with activity
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(tr) to provide with a bristle or bristles
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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bristlelessadjective
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bristlelikeadjective
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bristlyadjective
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nonbristledadjective
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unbristledadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bristlesimple
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bristlessimple
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have bristledperfect
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has bristledperfect
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am bristlingprogressive
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are bristlingprogressive
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is bristlingprogressive
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have been bristlingperfect progressive
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has been bristlingperfect progressive
Past
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bristledsimple
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had bristledperfect
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was bristlingprogressive
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were bristlingprogressive
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had been bristlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bristle
before 1000; Middle English bristel, equivalent to brist ( Old English byrst bristle, cognate with German Borste, Old Norse burst ) + -el diminutive suffix
Explanation
A bristle is a stiff hair — the kind men shave off their face or the kind badgers have all over. Bristle also means to get angry. Tell an animal rights activist you use a badger's bristle shaving brush and you'll get the idea. The emotional meaning of to bristle comes from the fact that most animal bristles used by man are so-called erectile hairs — the ones that stand up on the neck or along the back of animal when it's angry or surprised. A common word associated with bristle is hackle, another name for such erectile animal hairs. Thus the saying "to get one's hackles up," which is pretty much identical to bristling.
Vocabulary lists containing bristle
Instead of "Said": Vexed Verbiage to Express Anger
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"Of Mice and Men"
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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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.
See Examples For:
She may bristle at the paperwork or issues of mortality.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 1, 2026
Like other predatory bristle worms, this species has jaws built from structural proteins and ions.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026
Many residents are thrilled by the promising tool, but others bristle at the idea of manipulating nature.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 22, 2026
If it were her back or another tough area that warranted a good scratch, she would use the bristle end of a broom.
From BBC ● Jan. 20, 2026
He felt a chill bristle across his neck, and it was difficult to swallow the mouthful of stew.
From "Ceremony:" by Leslie Marmon Silko
Elephants are born with about 1,000 of these bristles, lead author Andrew Schulz told AFP, many of them anchored in the trunk's wrinkles to act like feelers and help the animals assess their surroundings.
From Barron's ● Feb. 12, 2026
Cohen bristles at the term meme stock, telling the Journal it is “a label people use when they don’t want to do the work” on a stock.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
Manning bristles at the terms “arm talent” and proclamations that a certain quarterback can “spin it.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2025
Dr Xand says it's important to "focus on the sensation of the bristles" and approach tooth brushing mindfully, not scrolling on your phone at the same time.
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2025
To my astonishment, I came upon something very different: not a small variation such as red eyes instead of white, or neck bristles instead of no neck bristles.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Aronowitz has bristled at this sort of criticism.
From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026
The White House bristled at the suggestion that the president has lost cultural potency.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026
Standout reporting on Colossal has been done by Michael Le Page of the British journal New Scientist, whose most recent article bristled with skeptical takes about the hatchling announcement from established scientists.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026
In one, he visibly bristled when the Joyce defeat was raised.
From BBC ● May 10, 2026
Some of Renly's lords bristled at that, but the king only laughed.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Jasper Wiese had swept past Alex Coles with a run bristling with evil intent.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
Morgan, who was working at Bennigan’s when Texas Roadhouse recruited him in 1997, remembers bristling at the buy-in—and having to borrow from his parents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026
But in terms of its actual content, the statement was pretty thin gruel, bristling with public relations-style circumlocution and vagueness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 27, 2026
Or Santos bristling at her new boss’s insistence on clearing her charting backlog while tending cranky patients.
From Salon ● Jan. 8, 2026
The general scowled, his mustache bristling, but then he seemed to snap to attention.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
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.
