It ran against the grain of the age and was not believed.

Telling certain customers that they are not welcome runs against the grain.

Nature conservation runs against the grain of current political doctrine.

The cutbacks run against the grain of policies with which the party has long been associated.

Their success in some ways runs against the grain of dot-com wisdom.

In many ways, paying taxes runs against the grain in Poland.

"My horse ran as good as anyone could run against the grain of this track.

He was also showing a distaste for outdoor pursuits that ran against the grain of their family life.

It also runs against the grain of the whole flashy aesthetic that existed in the 80s."

And a director's storytelling skills run against the grain of everything it takes to create a trailer, which must be clear without completely clarifying anything.

But he is also a musician whose repertory and inclinations run against the grain of his orchestra.

It runs against the grain of public disclosure."

It is also clear from the start that Kuribayashi's ideas about military procedure run against the grain of imperial custom.

His dissidence on this issue is political - it runs against the grain of the political climate both then and now.

Tactics became known for running against the grain musically, lyrically, and stylistically.

And some of Mr. Alden's touches seem to run against the grain.

In the meantime, lame ducks did the nation's business for a full session, often in ways that ran against the grain of the last election.

The attempt, now, to operate as just another man, would run against the grain of a lifetime of smug theory and self-delusion.

Boris brushed on a second layer of shaving cream and razored it off with strokes running against the grain.

But Mr. Boren conceded that his efforts ran against the grain of many powerful lawmakers.

Though such Republican moderates often run against the grain of the national party, they still receive backing from the national party, state chairmen say.

SLR rangefinder devices work best when the subject has distinct lines that run against the grain of the two prisms.

Subsidizing art runs against the grain of American independence, the tradition of self-reliance that seems so often to tie into populism.

Franco Battiato, Running against the grain (2001).

In the process, he ran against the grain of what was happening in his time, and got caught in the trap of trying to fight history.