like a bear with a sore head
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Very irritable; bad-tempered.
Where it’s used:
Used
American English
Examples
He'll be like a bear with a sore head when he gets up.’
Myeloski awoke like a grizzly bear with a sore head.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).
Common questions
What does “like a bear with a sore head” mean?
Very irritable; bad-tempered.
Is “like a bear with a sore head” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.