hair-trigger
US/ˈhɛɚˌtɹɪɡ.ɚ/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Canada/ˈhɛɹˌtɹɪ.ɡɚ/
hair-trigger noun: a trigger that will set off a firearm when even a very small pressure is applied.
Noun
hair-trigger (plural hair-triggers)
- A trigger that will set off a firearm when even a very small pressure is applied.
- […]the hunter brings the sight of his rifle to bear; lightly and delicately his finger presses upon the hair-trigger.1847, Francis Parkman, The Oregon Trail
- Is your laugh hung on a hair-trigger?—that is, is it critical, or can you get it off easy?1870–1871 (date written), Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “”, in Roughing It, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company [et al.], published 1872, →OCLC, page 560
Adjective
hair-trigger (not comparable)
- Unstable; in a situation that could be worsened by the slightest mistake.
- Easily angered; having a short temper.
- "Gus," the latter began, "am I right in assuming that you possess a reasonable amount of influence with that hair-trigger partner of yours, Live Wire Luiz?"1922, Peter B. Kyne, Cappy Rick Retires, page 339
- [I]n the 575 days since [Oscar] Pistorius shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, there has been an unseemly scramble to construct revisionist histories, to identify evidence beneath that placid exterior of a pugnacious, hair-trigger personality.2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities: Bladerunner's punishment for killing Reeva Steenkamp is but a...
- Synonyms:
- hair-triggered
Synonyms of hair-trigger
- hair-triggered
Forms of hair-trigger
| plural | hair-triggers |
|---|---|
| alternative form | hair trigger |
Origin of hair-trigger
From hair + trigger.
Questions about hair-trigger
- What does hair-trigger mean?
- Hair-trigger means a trigger that will set off a firearm when even a very small pressure is applied.
- What part of speech is hair-trigger?
- Hair-trigger can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce hair-trigger?
- Hair-trigger is pronounced /ˈhɛɹˌtɹɪ.ɡɚ/ (Canada).
- What is the plural of hair-trigger?
- The plural of hair-trigger is hair-triggers.
Words near hair-trigger in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hair-trigger (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “hair-trigger.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hair-trigger. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.