thorn in someone's side

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

thorn in someone's side (plural thorns in someone's side)

1. (idiomatic) A persistent annoyance.
   • 1995, “The Sword of Kahless”, in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, season 4, episode 8 (Science Fiction), spoken by Kor, →OCLC:

     Wait. Let this moment be remembered. For on this day, we three -- Kor, Dahar Master of the Klingons, Jadzia Dax, a joined Trill of seven lives, and Worf, son of Mogh and thorn in Gowron's side -- together stepped forth into the eye of destiny.

   • 2014 March 9, Jacob Steinberg, “Wigan shock Manchester City in FA Cup again to reach semi-finals”, in The Guardian:

     All the billions in the world and Manchester City still cannot rid themselves of the most persistent thorn in their side.

   • 2023 July 22, Andrew Anthony, “The pro-extinctionist philosopher who has sparked a battle over humanity’s future”, in The Observer‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Up until now, Torres has been best known through their trenchant pieces for magazines such as Salon, aeon and Foreign Policy as a thorn in the side of the longtermist movement.

Synonyms

• thorn in the flesh

Translations

thorn in someone's side

• Czech: trn v oku
• Dutch: een doorn in (iemands) oog, luis in de pels f
• Finnish: piikki lihassa (fi)
• French: épine au pied (fr) f, épine dans le pied (fr) f
• German: (jemandem) ein Dorn im Auge m
• Hungarian: szálka a szemében
• Icelandic: þyrnir í augum m
• Indonesian: duri dalam daging (id)
• Irish: bior sa bheo m, tairne sa bheo m
• Italian: spina nel fianco f
• Polish: być solą w oku (pl) impf (literally, to be salt in someone's eye)
• Portuguese: pedra no sapato (de alguém) f
• Romanian: (cu) sula în coaste
• Russian: бельмо́ на глазу́ n (belʹmó na glazú), кость в го́рле f (kostʹ v górle)
• Spanish: piedra en el zapato f
• Swedish: en nagel i ögat (på någon)
• Thai: หนามยอกอก (th) (nǎam-yɔ̂ɔk-òk)
• Vietnamese: cái gai trong mắt

See also

• bone in the throat
• chip on one's shoulder