altercation
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Altercation \Al`ter*ca"tion\ (?; 277), n. [F. altercation, fr.
L. altercatio.]
Warm contention in words; dispute carried on with heat or
anger; controversy; wrangle; wordy contest. "Stormy
altercations." --Macaulay.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: {Altercation}, {Dispute}, {Wrangle}.
Usage: The term dispute is in most cases, but not
necessarily, applied to a verbal contest; as, a
dispute on the lawfulness of war. An altercation is an
angry dispute between two parties, involving an
interchange of severe language. A wrangle is a
confused and noisy altercation.
[1913 Webster]
Their whole life was little else than a
perpetual wrangling and altercation. --Hakewill.
[1913 Webster]
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
58 Moby Thesaurus words for "altercation":
Kilkenny cats, argument, bicker, bickering, blood feud, brawl,
broil, cat-and-dog life, combat, conflict, contention,
contentiousness, contest, contestation, controversy,
cut and thrust, debate, disputation, dispute, donnybrook,
donnybrook fair, embroilment, enmity, falling-out, feud, fight,
fighting, fliting, fracas, fuss, hostility, imbroglio, litigation,
logomachy, open quarrel, paper war, polemic, quarrel, quarreling,
quarrelsomeness, scrapping, sharp words, slanging match, snarl,
spat, squabble, squabbling, strife, struggle, tiff, tussle,
vendetta, war, war of words, warfare, words, wrangle, wrangling
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