Word.ws English Dictionary

push someone's buttons

push someone's buttons verb: to do specific things to anger someone (or, less commonly, to sexually arouse or otherwise elicit a strong reaction from them), especially intentionally or maliciously.

Verb

push someone's buttons (third-person singular simple present pushes someone's buttons, present participle pushing someone's buttons, simple past and past participle pushed someone's buttons)

  1. (informal) To do specific things to anger someone (or, less commonly, to sexually arouse or otherwise elicit a strong reaction from them), especially intentionally or maliciously.
    • Near-synonyms: trigger, get on someone's nerves
    • You really knew how to push my buttons.

Synonyms of push someone's buttons

Forms of push someone's buttons

third-person singular presentpushes someone's buttons
present participlepushing someone's buttons
past participlepushed someone's buttons
pastpushed someone's buttons
alternative formpress someone's buttons

Questions about push someone's buttons

What does push someone's buttons mean?
Push someone's buttons means to do specific things to anger someone (or, less commonly, to sexually arouse or otherwise elicit a strong reaction from them), especially intentionally or maliciously.
What part of speech is push someone's buttons?
Push someone's buttons is a verb.
What is the past tense of push someone's buttons?
The past tense of push someone's buttons is pushed someone's buttons.

Words near push someone's buttons in the dictionary

  1. push scooter
  2. push scooters
  3. push shit uphill
  4. push shot
  5. push shots
  6. push someone's buttons
  7. push string uphill
  8. push the boat out
  9. push the edge of the envelope
  10. push the envelope
  11. push the limit

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: push someone's buttons (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-push someone's buttons.wav.

Cite this entry: “push someone's buttons.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/push_someone%27s_buttons. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.