tussle

1 of 2

noun

tus·​sle ˈtə-səl How to pronounce tussle (audio)
1
: a physical contest or struggle : scuffle
2
: an intense argument, controversy, or struggle

tussle

2 of 2

verb

tussled; tussling ˈtə-s(ə-)liŋ How to pronounce tussle (audio)

intransitive verb

: to struggle roughly : scuffle

Examples of tussle in a Sentence

Noun The suspect was arrested after a tussle with a security guard. a tussle for control of the company The President is in for another tussle with Congress. Verb Two players tussled for the ball. The residents of the neighborhood tussled with city hall for years about the broken parking meters.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
But the biggest tussles over this rule have been over how transparent companies need to be about their greenhouse gas pollution. Justine Calma, The Verge, 6 Mar. 2024 One tussle is composed in black and white; others take place with the creatures skidding on oil slicks and water puddles, or gawking as the Chameleon, living up to her name, throws a jab that mutates into an elephant’s trunk. Amy Nicholson, Washington Post, 6 Mar. 2024 Footage captured 20 minutes after the attack shows the big cat returning to sniff at the dog’s collar, which came off in the yard during the tussle. Travis Hall, Field & Stream, 14 Feb. 2024 Bradshaw’s big bucket in the closing minutes proved to be the difference in a tight tussle that saw four lead changes and seven ties. The Courier-Journal, 6 Jan. 2024 The omission is part of a tussle that has ripped open the state’s Republican party and diminished the influence of Nevada in early presidential nominating contests. Eliza Collins, WSJ, 21 Nov. 2023 The lawsuit, filed by medical technology startup AliveCor, comes amid years of legal tussle between the two companies, centered around claims of antitrust and intellectual property infringement by Apple. TIME, 8 Feb. 2024 Dylan Sprouse is looking back on his tussle with twin Cole Sprouse on the set of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. Stephanie Wenger, Peoplemag, 2 Feb. 2024 Yet O’Connor came away from his first tussle with ice, around 2010, wanting more. Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 23 Jan. 2024
Verb
Rowdy bear cub siblings tussled with each other and slipped inside a narrow crawlspace in a California building — so their mom had to bust in after them. Brooke Baitinger, Sacramento Bee, 29 Feb. 2024 Off the resumption of play at center ice, forwards mixed it up as the Ducks’ Ross Johnston tussled with Columbus’ Mathieu Olivier. Josh Gross, Orange County Register, 25 Feb. 2024 Local, state and federal officials, along with advocates and boaters, tussled over boat speeds for more than a decade. USA TODAY, 3 Feb. 2024 Sharif tussled with the gunman and gained control of the weapon. Rich Schapiro, NBC News, 12 Jan. 2024 The Illinois Nurses Association filed a number of charges against Howard Brown Health with Region 13 of the National Labor Relations Board after tussling with the health center over jobs and negotiations late last year and early this year. Lisa Schencker, Chicago Tribune, 20 July 2023 Cruise then tussled this past summer with San Francisco’s city attorney and fire department over more incidents. David Welch, Fortune, 25 Jan. 2024 The rest of the movie finds the two teams tussling for supremacy, with only Kira and her opposite number, Vetrov (Masha Mashkova), known as Nika, risking a tenuous pact. Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 19 Jan. 2024 Though Scientology has long attracted critics, the TikTokers are taking protests against the church to the next level, streaming live outside the Hollywood Boulevard location and tussling with cops on a nightly basis. Ej Dickson, Rolling Stone, 10 Jan. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tussle.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English (Scots) tussillen, frequentative of Middle English -tusen, -tousen to tousle — more at touse

First Known Use

Noun

1629, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1638, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of tussle was in 1629

Dictionary Entries Near tussle

Cite this Entry

“Tussle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tussle. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

tussle

1 of 2 verb
tus·​sle ˈtəs-əl How to pronounce tussle (audio)
tussled; tussling
ˈtəs-(ə-)liŋ

tussle

2 of 2 noun
1
: a physical contest or struggle
2
: a rough argument or a struggle against difficult odds

More from Merriam-Webster on tussle

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