Word.ws English Dictionary

the knives are out

the knives are out phrase: people are angry.

Phrase

the knives are out

  1. (UK, informal) People are angry.

Questions about the knives are out

What does the knives are out mean?
The knives are out means people are angry.
What part of speech is the knives are out?
The knives are out is a phrase.

Words near the knives are out in the dictionary

  1. The Junction
  2. the jury is still out
  3. the king is dead, long live the king
  4. The Kingfish
  5. The Klondike
  6. the knives are out
  7. the laborer is worthy of his hire
  8. the labourer is worthy of his hire
  9. the lady doth protest too much
  10. the lady doth protest too much, methinks
  11. The Lagoon

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: the knives are out (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-the knives are out.wav.

Cite this entry: “the knives are out.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/the_knives_are_out. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.