Word.ws English Dictionary

kicks in the teeth

kicks in the teeth is the plural of kick in the teeth.

Meaning of kick in the teeth

Noun

kick in the teeth (plural kicks in the teeth)

  1. (idiomatic) A humiliating insult or instance of bad treatment, especially when one is expecting friendship or in need of support; a sudden and unexpected setback; a strong rebuff.
    • This kick in the teeth, brutal under any circumstances, is more so, given Matoussem Ramoud's gentle, trusting nature and his infatuation with America.1996, Evelyn Shakir, “Arab-American Literature”, in Alpana Sharma Knippling, editor, New Immigrant Literatures in the United States: A Sourcebook to Our Multicultural Literary Heritage, page 13

Questions about kicks in the teeth

What is kicks in the teeth the plural of?
Kicks in the teeth is the plural of kick in the teeth.

Words near kicks in the teeth in the dictionary

  1. kicks down
  2. kicks in
  3. kicks in the balls
  4. kicks in the butt
  5. kicks in the pants
  6. kicks in the teeth
  7. kicks into the long grass
  8. kicks into touch
  9. kicks it
  10. kicks like a mule
  11. kicks loose

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kicks in the teeth (page history and authors); kick in the teeth (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.

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