Word.ws English Dictionary

raise an eyebrow

raise an eyebrow verb: to show scepticism, surprise or as a result of being mildly scandalised.

Verb

raise an eyebrow (third-person singular simple present raises an eyebrow, present participle raising an eyebrow, simple past and past participle raised an eyebrow)

  1. To show scepticism, surprise or as a result of being mildly scandalised.
  2. To cause scepticism or surprise.
    • 'Alleged car thief Kris Kafoops appeared in court today'. Bog standard reporting like this wouldn't raise an eyebrow anywhere.2019, Jane Gilmore, Fixed It: Violence and the representation of women in the media

Forms of raise an eyebrow

third-person singular presentraises an eyebrow
present participleraising an eyebrow
past participleraised an eyebrow
pastraised an eyebrow

Questions about raise an eyebrow

What does raise an eyebrow mean?
Raise an eyebrow means to show scepticism, surprise or as a result of being mildly scandalised.
What part of speech is raise an eyebrow?
Raise an eyebrow is a verb.
What is the past tense of raise an eyebrow?
The past tense of raise an eyebrow is raised an eyebrow.

Words near raise an eyebrow in the dictionary

  1. raise a finger against
  2. raise a flag
  3. raise a hand
  4. raise a red flag
  5. raise a stink
  6. raise an eyebrow
  7. raise borer
  8. raise borers
  9. raise Cain
  10. raise cane
  11. raise eyebrows

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: raise an eyebrow (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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Cite this entry: “raise an eyebrow.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/raise_an_eyebrow. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.