squabble means A minor fight or argument.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, squabble ranks #8,850 of 40,231 for Qualifying, #13,564 of 17,137 for Most Exacting Words.
squabble is pronounced /ˈskwɒbəl/.
Why “squabble” is a great word
A noisy, petty dispute, or the act of engaging in one, signifying more sound than substance. Its roots are likely North Germanic and imitative, suggested by kin like the Swedish dialectal *skvabbel* ('gossip, dispute') and the Norwegian *skvabba* ('to prattle'); it scurries into English record as a noun around 1602, and as a verb by 1616. Unlike a *debate*, a formal clash of ideas, or an *altercation*, which presages heat and fists, a squabble is the preferred currency of the trivial and the bored. It is the static crackle of two siblings in a backseat over an invisible line, the percussive spit of neighbors across a fence about a straying petunia, or the metallic clatter of teaspoons over whose turn it is to wash—a small, communal noise against the vast quiet of everything that truly matters, where nothing is at stake but pride and every syllable reeks of trivial triumph.
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”).
noun
- A minor fight or argument.e.g.“The children got into a squabble about who should ride in the front of the car.”
verb
- To participate in a minor fight or argument; to quarrel.e.g.“The brothers were always squabbling with each other.”
- To disarrange, so that the letters or lines stand awry and require readjustment.e.g.“to squabble type”
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