Idioms are expressions with greater meaning. Phrases like "nick of time" or "in other words" or "for heaven's sake". Definition: a group of words in a fixed order that have a particular meaning that is different from the meanings of each word understood on its own:
One-upmanship, also called “one-upsmanship”, is the art or practice of successively outdoing a competitor. The term has been extended to a generic, often punning extension, upmanship, used for any assertion of superiority: for instance, photon upmanship, Native Upmanship, and so on. Wikipedia
Find another word for one-upmanship. In this page you can discover 22 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for one-upmanship, like: bettering, artfulness, cageyness, canniness, competitive-advantage, competitive edge, cunning, cutthroat, outfoxing, outsmarting and outwitting. Read more
a commotion or fuss, especially one caused by conflicting views. For example, “there was a kerfuffle over the chairmanship”.
a disturbance or commotion typically caused by a dispute or conflict. “In all the kerfuffle, nobody seemed to have noticed Harry, which suited him perfectly”.
Example: “Given Noah’s social media kerfuffle with Kanye West, viewers should also be attuned to any biting commentary.” — Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY, 30 Mar. 2022
Synonyms
disturbance, hoo-ha, to-do, commotion, flutter, hurly-burly, disruption, hoo-hah and brouhaha.
Origin
The root of “kerfuffle” is the very old Scots verb “fuffle,” which first appeared in print in the early 16th century and means “to throw into disorder.” The Oxford English Dictionary suggests that the “ker” part of “kerfuffle” may hare come from the Gaelic word “car,” meaning “to twist, bend or turn around.” In the case of “kerfuffle,” that would serve as a sort of intensive element, giving us the sense of “a twisted up, confused ruckus or dispute.” Sounds like every “kerfuffle” I’ve ever seen.
The phrase no ifs, ands, or buts is a list of words that are often used to begin a sentence that is an explanation or excuse for bad behavior or for not fulfilling an obligation. Most often, no ifs, ands or buts is one of those phrases that is expressed in informal, spoken English.
If someone says they don’t want to hear no ifs, ands, or buts then that means they don’t want to hear any excuses. Example: Jimmy has been relaxing all morning, so his mother said to him, “It’s time for you to do some house chores.
This expression uses the conjunctions to stand for the conditions and objections that they introduce. The earliest phrase to appear was ifs and ands in the 1600s. This phrase is actually an emphatic redundancy, for and often meant “if.” But was tacked on to this pair soon afterward.
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Partial sources: Dictionary.com, Google.com, Cartoon credit: Mark Anderson
