set someone's teeth on edge
set someone's teeth on edge verb: to irritate or strike as unpleasant.
Verb
set someone's teeth on edge (third-person singular simple present sets someone's teeth on edge, present participle setting someone's teeth on edge, simple past and past participle set someone's teeth on edge)
- To irritate or strike as unpleasant.
- I can't stand his squeaky voice. It always sets my teeth on edge.
- To cause a disagreeable tingling sensation in one's teeth, as when acids are brought into contact with them.
- For sounds, we see that the grating of a law, or any very harsh noise, will set the teeth on edge, and make all the body shiver1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “VIII. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for...
Forms of set someone's teeth on edge
| third-person singular present | sets someone's teeth on edge |
|---|---|
| present participle | setting someone's teeth on edge |
| past participle | set someone's teeth on edge |
| past | set someone's teeth on edge |
Questions about set someone's teeth on edge
- What does set someone's teeth on edge mean?
- Set someone's teeth on edge means to irritate or strike as unpleasant.
- What part of speech is set someone's teeth on edge?
- Set someone's teeth on edge is a verb.
- What is the past tense of set someone's teeth on edge?
- The past tense of set someone's teeth on edge is set someone's teeth on edge.
Words near set someone's teeth on edge in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: set someone's teeth on edge (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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