Definition of donnybrook
1
: free-for-all, brawl
2
: a usually public quarrel or dispute
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Examples of donnybrook in a Sentence
A donnybrook has erupted over the court's decision.
a dozen people were arrested after the donnybrook at the stadium
Recent Examples of donnybrook from the Web
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Confrontation of all kinds is a key comedic element of Letterkenny, and not just because Canadians like a good donnybrook and have the capacity, male and female, to beat your ass solid while looking like the friendliest folks around.
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That quickly revealed itself to be gun violence, and given the verbal blood sport the issue triggers, a debate could have devolved into a full-fledged donnybrook.
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Its warring progressive and pro-Cranley coalitions have drawn a line in the sand over this mayor-city manager donnybrook. ...
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New releases ★★½ Avengers: Infinity War The final installment — Part 1! — in the multi-film Marvel series is an all-star donnybrook that will play well to fans while leaving the unconverted cold.
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But for those either inside the historic Birmingham venue or watching on Facebook, the Democratic donnybrook came as somewhat of a shock.
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The donnybrook was on, sweeping the two from the middle of the bus to the front.
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That led to Red Sox reliever Joe Kelly drilling Austin in the seventh inning, which ended with a full-scale donnybrook.
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The dynastic feuding has sucked most of the oxygen out of the room as the media, understandably, focused on the old-fashioned Irish donnybrook.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'donnybrook.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
The Donnybrook Fair was an annual event held in Donnybrook-then a suburb of Dublin, Ireland-from the 13th to the 19th centuries. The fair was legendary for the vast quantities of liquor consumed there, for the number of hasty marriages performed during the week following it, and, most of all, for the frequent brawls that erupted throughout it. Eventually, the fair's reputation for tumult was its undoing. From the 1790s on there were campaigns against the drunken brawl the fair had become. The event was abolished in 1855, but not before its name had become a generic term for a free-for-all.
Origin and Etymology of donnybrook
Donnybrook Fair, annual Irish event known for its brawls
NEW! Time Traveler
First Known Use: 1852
in the meaning defined at sense 1
See Words from the same yeardonnybrook Synonyms
Synonyms
altercation, argument, battle royal, bicker, brawl, controversy, cross fire, disagreement, dispute, falling-out, fight, hassle, imbroglio, misunderstanding, quarrel, rhubarb, row, scrap, spat, squabble, tiff, wrangle;
Related Words
clash, run-in, skirmish, tangle, tussle;
attack, contention, dissension (also dissention);
debate, difference, disputation;
fuss, objection, protest, protestation;
fisticuffs, fracas, fray, free-for-all, melee (also mêlée);
DONNYBROOK Defined for English Language Learners
Definition of donnybrook for English Language Learners
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: a public argument
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: an uncontrolled fight
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