ruffled
AmericanEtymology
Origin of ruffled
Explanation
Ruffled things are frilly, or edged with fancy ruffles. Your little sister might love her ruffled dress so much that she wants to wear it every day. A bird's ruffled feathers provide it some protection as well as looking attractive to potential mates. You can also describe things that are mussed or rumpled, by a hand or the wind, for example, as ruffled. Your dog's ruffled fur might be caused by the breeze — or she might have her hackles up because she sees her mortal enemy, the mail carrier. The root of ruffled is probably the Low German ruffelen, "to wrinkle or curl."
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.
The explosive and heart-wrenching tell-all, released this week, has reportedly ruffled feathers inside Buckingham Palace, and its not hard to imagine why.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
The mayor ruffled feathers again when the 17,000 notices were sent out and he wrote on X that second-home owners should check their mailboxes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
One of the mayor’s pledges—free bus service—has ruffled feathers at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the agency that operates the city’s bus and subway service.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Cheaper and faster models coming from developers in China -- particularly from DeepSeek and Moonshot -- have ruffled feathers, and raised concerns about intellectual property theft, in the US.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
The clothesline was filled with them, and they were thin and light and ruffled and fluffy.
From "Sounder" by William H. Armstrong
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