bristle

American  

[bris-uhl] / ˈbrɪs əl /

noun

• bristles
  plural

1. one of the short, stiff, coarse hairs of certain animals, especially hogs, used extensively in making brushes.

2. anything resembling these hairs.

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verb (used without object)

• bristles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bristled,
  past participle,  past
• bristling
  present participle

1. to stand or rise stiffly, like bristles.

2. to erect the bristles, as an irritated animal (often followed byup ).

   The hog bristled up.

3. to become rigid with anger or irritation.

   The man bristled when I asked him to move.

4. to be thickly set or filled with something suggestive of bristles.

   The plain bristled with bayonets. The project bristled with difficulties.

5. to be visibly roused or stirred (usually followed byup ).

verb (used with object)

• bristles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bristled,
  past participle,  past
• bristling
  present participle

1. to erect like bristles.

   The rooster bristled his crest.

2. to furnish with a bristle or bristles.

3. to make bristly.

bristle British  

/ ˈbrɪsəl /

noun

1. any short stiff hair of an animal or plant

2. something resembling these hair

   toothbrush bristle

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verb

1. to stand up or cause to stand up like bristles

   the angry cat's fur bristled

2. to show anger, indignation, etc

   she bristled at the suggestion

3. (intr) to be thickly covered or set

   the target bristled with arrows

4. (intr) to be in a state of agitation or movement

   the office was bristling with activity

5. (tr) to provide with a bristle or bristles

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• bristleless
  adjective
• bristlelike
  adjective
• bristly
  adjective
• nonbristled
  adjective
• unbristled
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• bristles
  plural

Participles

• bristling
  present
• bristled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• bristle
  simple
• bristles
  simple
• have bristled
  perfect
• has bristled
  perfect
• am bristling
  progressive
• are bristling
  progressive
• is bristling
  progressive
• have been bristling
  perfect progressive
• has been bristling
  perfect progressive

Past

• bristled
  simple
• had bristled
  perfect
• was bristling
  progressive
• were bristling
  progressive
• had been bristling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will bristle
  simple
• will have bristled
  perfect
• will be bristling
  progressive
• will have been bristling
  perfect progressive

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bristle bristles bristled bristling

She may bristle at the paperwork or issues of mortality.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 1, 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

Most belonged to groups such as marine bristle worms, crustaceans, and mollusks, including snails and mussels.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 2, 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

Normally, Toby would bristle at being compared to Jimmy.

From "We'll Fly Away" by Bryan Bliss

The White House also bristles at Amodei's repeated warnings about the dangers of AI -- including the impact on jobs -- and his calls to regulate its deployment like airlines or banks.

From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026

Mr. Esparza, a four-time Tony nominee, has often exuded a molten intensity onstage, and he bristles with dark ferocity here.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

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

The book bristles with insight and originality, interspersing Vara’s more journalistic expositions with excurses and fragments curated from the author’s expansive digital life.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2025

At the corners of the lips, and on each side of the chin, a few long bristles gleamed almost white against the dark skin.

From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley

Aronowitz has bristled at this sort of criticism.

From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026

Customers have bristled at the higher upfront cost and have mentioned in online reviews that they wish the tiles had perforations for more adjustable dosing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026

In one, he visibly bristled when the Joyce defeat was raised.

From BBC ● May 10, 2026

Michael Lucia initially bristled at the name, convinced it was out of touch and elitist.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 22, 2026

Mother seemed pleased by the skeins of new wool that she pulled from her own bag, which bristled with needles of every size.

From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly

Shira Eisenberg, founder of an AI startup for early childhood, thinks the popularity of the phrase reflects a culture of bristling ambition stoked by the AI boom.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

But Lissie Harper said that she was "beyond appalled and bristling with anger to hear that Andrew's killers are soon to be free to roam the streets".

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 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

I, on the other hand, was bristling with so much feeling, I pretended not to have seen him.

From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez

Related Words

• bridle
• fume
• seethe