altercation
/ˌɔːltəˈkeɪʃn̩/
altercation means an angry or heated dispute. It carries an Arena rating of 1403, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, altercation ranks #2,418 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #6,174 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #6,185 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #6,808 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
altercation is pronounced /ˌɔːltəˈkeɪʃn̩/.
Why “altercation” is a great word
A noisy, heated, and angry dispute or argument, from the Latin altercātiō, altercātiōn- ("dispute, debate"), from altercārī ("to dispute with another"). Unlike a "debate," which is a formal, structured exchange, or a "fracas," which implies a physical brawl, an altercation is the acrid heat of a verbal quarrel that lives just this side of violence. It is the sharp, rising intonation in a crowded kitchen, the jabbing finger a centimeter from a chest, and the sudden, shocking silence after a sentence has gone too far—the terrible, intimate theater where words are both weapons and wounds, leaving a scent like scorched copper on skin.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin altercātiō. Cognates * Catalan altercació * Italian altercazione * Occitan altercatio, altercassion * Portuguese altercação * Spanish altercación
noun
- An angry or heated dispute.e.g.“to get into an altercation over (something)”
- An act of posing questions to, and obtaining answers from, a witness in a court of law.
- Angry or heated disputation.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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