The noisy neighbour was a thorn in her side for years.
a thorn in the side
idiomA persistent source of irritation, trouble, or difficulty.
Origin
The image appears twice in the Bible in slightly different forms. In Numbers 33:55, God warns the Israelites that any peoples they fail to drive out of Canaan will become "thorns in your sides" — a constant, wearing hindrance. Paul later uses a related figure in 2 Corinthians 12:7, describing "a thorn in the flesh" that afflicts him and will not go away.
Both draw on the same everyday misery: a thorn lodged in the body is not a mortal wound but a small, sharp, unshakeable pain that nags at every movement.
That is exactly the modern sense. A thorn in the side is a person or problem that keeps causing trouble over time — never quite disastrous, never quite gone. A dogged critic, a recurring fault, a rival who will not fade can all be a thorn in the side.
The small opposition party was a constant thorn in the side of the government, blocking bills at every turn.
That one unresolved lawsuit remained a thorn in the side of the whole merger, resurfacing at every board meeting long after everyone had hoped it was settled.
Acts and the letters of Paul to the first churches.
- 01
reap what you sow (idiom)
Your actions produce their own inevitable consequences, good or bad.
- 02
the root of all evil (idiom)
The underlying source of much wrongdoing — most often applied to money.
- 03
fight the good fight (idiom)
To persevere with determination in a worthy and difficult struggle.
- 04
road to Damascus (idiom)
An important point in someone's life where a great change, or reversal, of ideas or beliefs occurs.
- 05
the wages of sin (idiom)
The inevitable painful consequences of wrongdoing.
- 06
in the twinkling of an eye (idiom)
In an instant; extremely quickly.