Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use hackle in a sentence

10 example sentences · noun, verb

Hackle means an instrument with steel pins used to comb out flax or hemp. Example: “When the dog got angry, his hackles rose and he growled.”

Examples of hackle by meaning

nounBy extension (because the hackles of a rooster are lifted when it is angry), the hair on the nape of the neck in dogs...

  • When the dog got angry, his hackles rose and he growled.
  • Suppose it happened to be the case that the majority of individuals raised their hackles only when they were truly intending to go on for a very long time in the war of attrition.1976, Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene, Kindle edition, OUP Oxford, published 2016, page 101

nounPluck; courage or energy.

  • "COME ALONG YE GRASS-COMBERS, SHOW some hackle," David Ingram, striding ahead, turned back and called.1949, Eric Philbrook Kelly, The Amazing Journey of David Ingram, page 11

More sentences with hackle

  • Every time I hear him talk, he just raises my hackles.From the entry raise someone's hackles
  • View the film now and it’s not hard to see what raised the hackles of such groups.2022 March 20, Jason Bailey, “‘Basic Instinct’ at 30: A Time Capsule That Can Still Offend”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry raise someone's hackles
  • A scutching machine pulls out the linen fibers, which are then hackled or carded and combed.2007, Karla J. Nielson, Interior Textiles: Fabrics, Application, and Historic Style, →ISBN, page 41. From the entry tow linen
  • Hackling separates the long line linen fibers from the shorter tow linen fibers.2007, Karla J. Nielson, Interior Textiles: Fabrics, Application, and Historic Style, →ISBN, page 41. From the entry tow linen
  • But when it does so, it raises fairness or equal protection hackles in the American psyche.1978, Donald G. Hagman, “Compensation Inhibits Planning”, in Donald G. Hagman, Dean J. Misczynski, editors, Windfalls for Wipeouts: Land…. From the entry draconianly
  • Edmund circled the uproar with hackles up, craving a signal from Bradly to nip this old squaller by her broomstick legs.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 200. From the entry squaller
  • A common fault is irregularity of hackle striping, many exhibits having the black stripe very much broken, and others have what is termed a "shafty" hackle.1932, The Feathered World Year Book. From the entry shafty

Meaning of hackle

  1. noun An instrument with steel pins used to comb out flax or hemp.
  2. noun One of the long, narrow feathers on the neck of birds, most noticeable on the rooster.
  3. noun A feather used to make a fishing lure or a fishing lure incorporating a feather.

Full definition of hackle

Questions about hackle in a sentence

How do you use hackle in a sentence?
Hackle is used as a noun and verb. For example: “When the dog got angry, his hackles rose and he growled.”
What is a short sentence with hackle?
“Every time I hear him talk, he just raises my hackles.”
What does hackle mean?
Hackle means an instrument with steel pins used to comb out flax or hemp.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hackle (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use hackle in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/hackle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.