Synonyms of bristling

bristling 1 of 2

adjective

as in bristly

Related Words

• bristly
• seething
• boiling
• smoldering
• passionate
• sizzling
• cross
• burning
• huffy
• vitriolic
• antagonistic
• virulent
• wrought (up)
• worked up
• malevolent
• angry
• indignant
• acrimonious
• spiteful
• acrid
• ranting
• rancorous
• vengeful
• antipathetic
• ballistic
• embittered
• vindictive
• irate
• inimical
• stormy
• apoplectic
• enraged
• resentful
• livid
• steaming
• inflamed
• incensed
• infuriated
• wrathful
• angered
• fuming
• raving
• foaming
• furious
• outraged
• rabid
• distant
• choleric
• unpleasant
• bitter
• sulky
• icy
• mad
• sore
• disagreeable
• riled
• rankled
• unfriendly
• fretful
• peevish
• piqued
• ireful
• testy
• exasperated
• disapproving
• wroth
• snappish
• irascible
• antisocial
• hopping
• perturbed
• petulant
• aggravated
• roiled
• bilious
• dyspeptic
• frigid
• churlish
• cheesed off
• shirty
• cantankerous
• pugnacious
• irritable
• belligerent
• inflammable
• cold
• touchy
• ill-tempered
• annoyed
• ticked
• grouchy
• teed off
• horn-mad
• infuriate
• ornery
• querulous
• quarrelsome
• hot
• grumpy
• crabby
• cool
• steamed up
• cranky
• sorehead
• contentious
• disputatious
• contrary
• fussy
• bearish
• argumentative
• ill-humored
• riley
• quick-tempered
• put out

Dissimilar Words

• accepting
• delighted
• pleased
• accommodating
• agreeable
• amenable
• friendly
• cordial
• sympathetic
• complaisant
• content
• obliging
• amicable
• happy
• angerless
• satisfied
• tolerant
• calm
• placid
• kind
• empathetic
• sweet
• pleasant
• understanding
• amiable
• serene
• genial
• tranquil
• peaceable
• good-natured
• pacific
• affable
• easygoing
• unembittered
• good-tempered

bristling

2 of 2

verb

present participle of bristle

1

as in bursting

to be copiously supplied

a recent college grad thrilled to be starting a new life in a city bristling with possibilities

Synonyms & Similar Words

• bursting
• buzzing
• bulging
• brimming
• humming
• teeming
• swarming
• abounding
• overflowing
• crawling
• pullulating
• bustling

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• lacking
• wanting
• needing

2

as in storming

to express one's anger usually violently

the man bristled at the accusation, and threatened to file a lawsuit

Synonyms & Similar Words

• storming
• raging
• fuming
• rampaging
• steaming
• blustering
• running amok
• fulminating
• making a scene
• seething
• raving
• foaming
• smoldering
• ranting
• fretting
• flaring (up)
• carrying on
• stewing
• burning
• flipping (out)
• taking on
• blowing up
• chafing

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• containing
• soothing
• restraining
• collecting
• composing
• stifling
• checking
• suppressing
• curbing
• smothering
• swallowing
• strangling
• subduing
• repressing
• choking (back)
• allaying
• tempering
• pacifying
• appeasing
• moderating
• reining
• cooling
• easing
• pocketing
• relaxing
• settling
• quieting
• calming
• toning (down)
• quelling
• hushing
• letting up
• stilling

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of bristling

Adjective

That gives it a bristling relevance. — Randy Myers, Mercury News, 13 Aug. 2025

Mason gives him a somewhat civilized welcome but has too much bristling nervous energy to be trusted. — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019

Verb

The Interstate 215 corridor is the arterial mainline of California affordable housing, bristling with so many expanding housing developments that demand is outpacing what’s available in the traditional insurance market. — Paige St. John, Los Angeles Times, 20 Sep. 2026

But there are divided opinions, with some tech leaders bristling at the idea that their companies could not ensure safety on their own. — ABC News, 16 Sep. 2026

Central Market, released in 2009, proved that his idiosyncratic melodic sensibility could translate to a more symphonic setting, with the Wordless Music Orchestra giving his giddy, loop-heavy compositions a bustling, bristling density. — Reed Jackson, SPIN, 24 Aug. 2026

El-Sayed and his allies are bristling at that tactic, since Obama has remained neutral in the Senate primary. — David Weigel, semafor.com, 15 July 2026

The irony, though — of companies building AI agents that can autonomously access users’ most sensitive data across multiple platforms while bristling at government scrutiny of the same technology — is difficult to miss. — Anisha Sircar, Forbes.com, 10 July 2026

Conservative Justices, bristling at insinuations of bias or partisanship, like to point to the significant share of cases that are decided unanimously. — Ruth Marcus, New Yorker, 30 June 2026

The result is an album that retains the bristling energy of the band’s debut but yet feels refreshingly loose. — Jason P. Woodbury, Pitchfork, 22 June 2026

Young Washington, a new biopic, gives us pre-Revolutionary George, early-20s George, pale, petulant, virginal, ramrod-straight, and bristling with awkwardness and ambition. — James Parker, The Atlantic, 16 June 2026