hair trigger
noun
a trigger that allows the firing mechanism of a firearm to be operated by very slight pressure.
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hair trigger
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hair-trigger
hair-triggeradjectiveeasily activated or set off; reacting immediately to the slightest provocation or cause.
hair trigger
1 Americannoun
hair-trigger
2
American
[hair-trig-er]
/ ˈhɛərˌtrɪg ər /
adjective
hair trigger
British
noun
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a trigger of a firearm that responds to very slight pressure
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informal
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any mechanism, reaction, etc, set in operation by slight provocation
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( as modifier )
a hair-trigger temper
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Etymology
Origin of hair trigger1
First recorded in 1815–25
Origin of hair-trigger2
First recorded in 1885–90
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:
Years of mismanagement and ill-fated transfers have left Spurs with a jumbled squad and a hair trigger for firing coaches.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 2026
Investors appear to have been on hair trigger.
From Barron's ● Dec. 22, 2025
The Xbox Elite 2 Core, as we’re calling it, offers the usual adjustable-tension thumbsticks, wraparound rubberized grip, and shorter hair trigger locks, and it now comes in white.
From The Verge ● Sep. 7, 2022
Dozens more are noted, most of them witnesses to or victims of the rage and wrath of Musk, a hair trigger of an executive who’s quick to fire people whether they deserve it or not.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2021
His sense of right and wrong had been mounted on a hair trigger.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
“I have always been gifted with a hair-trigger scam detector,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Their lead single “Fabienk” is studded with hair-trigger riffs — if you can even call them that — that mix the playful nursery rhyme melodies of Battles with the no-wave drone of Sonic Youth.
From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2026
The timing of the blaze, the threats Goodstein received and the country’s hair-trigger political atmosphere all offered more than a little reason for pause and reflection.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2025
Yet, to some, there is a feeling that the situation is just one hair-trigger moment away from tragedy, says Mark Naison, who took part in the sometimes violent protests at Columbia in 1968.
From Seattle Times ● May 2, 2024
With the hair-trigger, only one pound of pressure was needed.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
