battle

n

1. clash, struggle, strife, contention, tussle, scuffle; contest, war, bout, Armageddon; skirmish, action, brush; combat, warfare, fighting, hostilities; collision, conflict, meeting, engagement, encounter, rencounter; fight, donnybrook, Scot. sturt, Inf. scrap, Inf. run-in; duel, joust, tilt; confrontation, showdown; uprising, resistance, dissension, distraction; brawl, feud, affray, broil; slaughter, bloodshed, carnage, massacre, butchery; fracas, uproar, melee; campaign, crusade; tournament, tourney, competition.

2. assault, attack, offensive, onslaught; rush, blitz, blitzkrieg, storming, Fr. coup de main, Obs. brunt; bombardment, strafing, air raid, peppering, salvo, fusillade, Both Mil. barrage, enfilade, Navy. broadside; raid, foray, sortie, sally, invasion, aggression, incursion, escalade; siege, besiegement, besetment, investment.

3. argument, debate, discussion, polemic, logomachy, war of words; contestation, disputation, argumentation; disagreement, contention, altercation, dispute, controversy, discord; quarrel, row, squabble, dustup, spat, tiff, Brit. Dial. fratch, Brit. Dial. fratching; dissension, variance, difference of opinion, wrangling^ bickering.

v

4. contend, clash, conflict with, struggle, encounter, engage, meet; fight, give or do battle, combat, duel, joust, tussle, scuffle; brawl, feud, come to blows; war, make war, war against, go to war; pommel, beat, beat into the ground, batter; slaughter, massacre.

5. contest, confront, rise up against, resist, rail against, ride against; tourney, compete against.

6. assault, attack, raid, storm, charge, rush, blitz; set upon, pounce upon, open fire upon, begin hostilities, Sl. let [s.o.] have it, Sl. lay into, Archaic. insult.

7. argue, dispute, disagree, controvert, spar, cross swords, lock horns; wrangle, bicker, haggle, Sl. hassle, Scot. argle-bargle, Scot. sturt, Scot, and North Eng. threap, Scot, and North Eng. prig; quibble, cavil, nit-pick, pettifog, belabor a point, split hairs.