rock the boat

1. Disturb a stable situation, as in An easygoing manager, he won't rock the boat unless it's absolutely necessary. This idiom alludes to capsizing a small vessel, such as a canoe, by moving about in it too violently. [Colloquial; early 1900s]

Example Sentences

Among those perceived flaws was an addictive personality, a stormy temper and, yes, a desire to “not rock the boat,” as she puts it.

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"It's quite a wacky way to do it with beer and athletes, it's not something that normally goes together, but I think because of that it makes it stand out a little bit. And you've got to rock the boat a little bit sometimes to get eyes on you."

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Esther wishes she had made a formal complaint at the time, but says she did not because he was an important author, and she didn't want to rock the boat.

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Whether from a calculation of how best to maintain the status quo or from simple lack of imagination, authoritarians generally do not want to rock the boat.

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Rather than rock the boat in times of trouble, Walter has practiced patience when it comes to personnel decisions.

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