up in arms

Idioms  

1. Angry, rebellious, as in The town was up in arms over the state's plan to allow commercial flights at the air base. This idiom originally referred to an armed rebellion and was so used from the late 1500s. Its figurative use dates from about 1700.

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Example Sentences

The teams were up in arms and complained.

From BBC • Feb. 16, 2026

U.S. voters aren’t the only ones up in arms about affordability.

From Barron's • Jan. 8, 2026

The rapper’s overhaul of the dwelling saw it reduced to little more than a concrete shell, decimating almost all of Ando’s original design—and leaving design lovers up in arms over its destruction.

From MarketWatch • Dec. 11, 2025

But Meloni’s government is up in arms about the threat to Italian pasta exports.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 10, 2025

Simultaneous and contradictory information declared him victorious in Villanueva, defeated in Guacamayal, devoured by Motilón Indians, dead in a village in the swamp, and up in arms again in Urumita.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez