English Explanatory Dictionary

squabble

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A minor fight or argument.
verb
  1. To participate in a minor fight or argument; to quarrel.
  2. To disarrange, so that the letters or lines stand awry and require readjustment.

Pronunciation

/ˈskwɒbəl/ /ˈskwɑːbəl/ en-us-squabble.ogg

Word forms

squabble squabbles squabbling squabbled

Etymology

The noun form first appears c. 1602, while the verbal form first appears c. 1616. Probably of North Germanic origin and ultimately imitative. Related to Swedish dialectal skvabbel (“a dispute, quarrel, gossip”), Norwegian dialectal skvabba (“to prattle”), German dialectal schwabbeln (“to babble, prattle”), Swedish dialectal skvappa (“to chide, scold”, literally “make a splash”).

Synonyms

squabble barney bicker quarrel wrangle argue tiff tift quibble row pettifog

Related words

dispute

Derived words

squabbly bum-squabble squabbler squabblesome squabblingly squaffle
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on S Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary