touch a nerve

Verb

touch a nerve (third-person singular simple present touches a nerve, present participle touching a nerve, simple past and past participle touched a nerve)

1. (idiomatic) To make a remark or perform a deed which produces a strong response, especially an emotional response such as anxiety or annoyance, because it calls to mind something which has been a source of concern or embarrassment.
   • Louis B. Seltzer, editor of the Cleveland Press, . . . banged out an editorial that raised uncomfortable questions about the state of the U.S. at a moment of world responsibility. His piece touched a nerve: in the following week, 1,000 people had tried to reach him by phone or written him letters...1951 August 27, “National Affairs: Right & Wrong”, in TIME, archived from the original on 23 Nov 2010
   • The austerity of my tone seemed to touch a nerve and kindle the fire that always slept in this vermilion-headed menace to the common weal, for she frowned a displeased frown and told me for heaven's sake to stop goggling like a dead halibut.1960, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 4, in Jeeves in the Offing