fly in the ointment fly in the face of • fly in the teeth of · · · Info · Definitions · Characters · · fly in the ointment · · Text Common · · Latin · · Scripts 19 · · Length 5 · · Syllables Definitions · · · (noun) an inconvenience that detracts from the usefulness of something. Synonyms: fly in the ointment. · · Noun Definition 1 Characters · · space U+0020 e latin small letter e U+0065 f latin small letter f U+0066 h latin small letter h U+0068 i latin small letter i U+0069 l latin small letter l U+006C m latin small letter m U+006D n latin small letter n U+006E o latin small letter o U+006F t latin small letter t U+0074 y latin small letter y U+0079