ruffle
Other forms: ruffled; ruffles; ruffling
A ruffle is a pleated piece of decorative fabric often used as trim on clothes, like the ruffles on a pirate’s shirt. To ruffle is to make someone lose their composure. Argh.
The word ruffle is mysterious, but it might be from the Low German word ruffelen which means "to wrinkle." A ruffle on the bottom of a dress is like a fancy wrinkle. To ruffle someone is to upset them, and they’ll need to get straightened out. Often, this word is used in the expression "ruffle their feathers." Hearing bad news will ruffle most people's feathers. An unruffled person and an unruffled shirt will both be smoother.
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stir up (water) so as to form ripples
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disturb the smoothness of“ruffle the surface of the water”
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type of:
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disarrange
destroy the arrangement or order of
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disarrange
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twitch or flutter
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erect or fluff up
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discompose“This play is going to ruffle some people”“She has a way of ruffling feathers among her colleagues”
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type of:
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fluster
cause to be nervous or upset
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fluster
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trouble or vex
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a noisy fight
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a strip of pleated material used as a decoration or a trim
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a high tight collar
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pleat or gather into a ruffle
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mix so as to make a random order or arrangement
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types:
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reshuffle
shuffle again
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riffle
shuffle (playing cards) by separating the deck into two parts and riffling with the thumbs so the cards intermix
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cut
divide a deck of cards at random into two parts to make selection difficult
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type of:
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manipulate
hold something in one's hands and move it
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reshuffle
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to walk with a lofty proud gait, often in an attempt to impress others
/ˈrəfəl/
/ˈrəfəl/
Vocabulary lists containing ruffle
When middle schooler Pie Pennelli is told by the Byrd twins that his recent hockey game had exactly the same moves and score as the one they'd played on a toy the night before, he is unsure what to think about this possible magic.
Called many names by different people, a border collie longs for a loving home where he can herd sheep.
In this fifteenth book of the historical fiction I Survived series, eleven-year-old Nathaniel Fox runs away from home and finds himself in the middle of the Battle of Brooklyn.
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