bicker

noun

bick·er | \ ˈbi-kər

How to pronounce bicker (audio)

\

Definition of bicker

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : petulant quarreling : altercation

2 : a sound of or as if of bickering

bicker

verb

bickered; bickering\ ˈbi-k(ə-)riŋ

How to pronounce bickering (audio)

\

Definition of bicker (Entry 2 of 2)

intransitive verb

1 : to engage in a petulant or petty quarrel bickering over money

2a : to move with a rapidly repeated noise a bickering stream

b : quiver, flicker

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Examples of bicker in a Sentence

Noun

after a prolonged bicker, they finally managed to find a movie that both of them were interested in seeing

Verb

She is always bickering with her mother. They bickered about how to decorate the room.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

That night at the after party, Colton bonds with Katie while Tracy and Demi bicker about who is more passive aggressive. — Anna Moeslein, Glamour, "The Bachelor Season 23, Episode 3 Recap: Elyse for Bachelorette?," 21 Jan. 2019 In Anne’s court, men can be advantageous pawns, but to ask them to do much more than bicker, race ducks, and play stupid games will lead to nothing good. — Alissa Wilkinson, Vox, "The Favourite is a deliciously wicked tale of sex, women, and power plays," 21 Nov. 2018 The two bicker about whether or not the ruse even looks believable. — Patricia Hernandez, The Verge, "When this Instagram couple has vicious fights, millions of people tune in," 31 Aug. 2018 Over the course of the show, a bland young couple bickers on and on about nothing particularly interesting. — Matthew J. Palm, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Review: Wanzie's Monorail Inferno - Fringe 2018," 14 May 2018 For some reason, Lincoln takes issue with this and the two bicker and fight while the camera weirdly zooms in on their legs touching. — Anna Moeslein, Glamour, "The Bachelorette Season 14 Episode 6 Recap: Chris Is the Worst," 2 July 2018 The episode is the latest to highlight divisions in the Europe Union that have left the bloc without a comprehensive migration policy as countries on the front line of the Mediterranean route bicker over who should be responsible for migrants. — Megan Specia, New York Times, "Italy and Malta Block Another Rescue Ship Carrying Migrants," 24 June 2018 The two bicker throughout the process, yet ultimately bond over their failure to make it in Hollywood. — New York Times, "What’s on TV Saturday: ‘Blade Runner 2049’ and ‘The Disaster Artist’," 2 June 2018 Jughead After Jughead calls all the Serpents back to the Whyte Wyrm and gets them to stop rioting and pursuing Reggie, Jughead and Sweet Pea (Jordan Connor) bicker over Jughead’s responsibility for the mess with Fangs and the Ghoulies. — refinery29.com, "Riverdale Season 2, Episode 21 Recap: "Judgment Night"," 10 May 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

The husband and wife were at each other from the beginning, bickering back and forth. — Candace Taylor, WSJ, "Selling a Great House? First, Break Up a Wrestling Match," 2 Jan. 2019 Instead of bickering with his critics, Smits determinedly went about sharpening his game. — Si.com Staff, SI.com, "SI Vault: 23rd anniversary of Reggie Miller's 8 points in 9 seconds game," 7 May 2015 Almost five months after Khalilzad’s appointment as Washington’s peace envoy, bickering political forces in Kabul have been unable to cobble together a negotiating team. — Kathy Gannon, The Seattle Times, "Powerful political leader warns against squandering peace," 20 Feb. 2019 Though a 1995 peace treaty brought an end to the three-year civil war in Bosnia, there is still bickering among the Serb, Muslim and Croat ethnic groups. — Fox News, "US embassy denies meddling in Bosnian election," 27 Sep. 2018 The two countries are publicly bickering over Northern Ireland’s fate after Britain leaves the European Union next year. — The Economist, "Twenty years after a peace deal the mood is sour in Northern Ireland," 28 Mar. 2018 The two countries have also bickered this year about the Japanese navy’s use of the traditional rising-sun flag at an international ceremony in South Korea and over a Korean pop star’s T-shirt that depicted the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. — Andrew Jeong, WSJ, "Bad Blood Between Japan, South Korea Tests American Strategy in Asia," 29 Nov. 2018 The doleful arias, bickering duets and mocking trios are delivered at a relatively brisk tempo — a wise strategy for a work in which the small talk is circular, the gags repetitive and the grievances rehashed ad nauseam. — Charles Mcnulty, latimes.com, "A revelatory Denzel Washington in 'The Iceman Cometh'," 10 May 2018 The Fantastic Four, by contrast, were family members who bickered and considered their powers more curse than blessing. — Ben Fritz, WSJ, "Comics Legend Stan Lee Dies," 12 Nov. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bicker.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Time Traveler for bicker

The first known use of bicker was in the 14th century

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More Definitions for bicker

bicker

verb

English Language Learners Definition of bicker

: to argue in a way that is annoying about things that are not important

See the full definition for bicker in the English Language Learners Dictionary

bicker

verb

bick·er | \ ˈbi-kər

\

bickered; bickering

Kids Definition of bicker

: to quarrel in an irritating way especially over unimportant things

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