grate on

But he slipped back to the pack as his efforts to gain attention and a penchant for stretching the truth yielded caustic responses from his rivals and appeared to grate on the voters.

But what was really beginning to grate on me was the breathless critical acclaim.

The constant transience was starting to grate on me, anyway.

As the school has shrunk and well-paid staff members have moved away, the state’s substantial tax-free land holdings have started to grate on local residents.

Outside, a man named Alvin Cooper was lying on a venting grate on a 38-degree night.