spat

1 of 5

ˈspat 

past tense and past participle of spit

spat

2 of 5

noun (1)

plural spat or spats

: a young bivalve (such as an oyster)

spat

3 of 5

noun (2)

: a cloth or leather gaiter covering the instep and ankle

spat

4 of 5

noun (3)

1

chiefly dialectal : slap entry 2

2

: a brief petty quarrel or angry outburst

a lovers' spat

3

: a sound like that of rain falling in large drops

spat

5 of 5

verb

spatted; spatting

transitive verb

chiefly dialectal : slap

intransitive verb

1

: to quarrel pettily or briefly

2

: to strike with a sound like that of rain falling in large drops

Synonyms

Noun (3)

• altercation
• argle-bargle [chiefly British]
• argument
• argy-bargy [chiefly British]
• battle royal
• bicker
• brawl
• contretemps
• controversy
• cross fire
• disagreement
• dispute
• donnybrook
• falling-out
• fight
• hassle
• imbroglio
• kickup
• misunderstanding
• quarrel
• rhubarb
• row
• scrap
• set-to
• squabble
• tiff
• wrangle

Verb

• altercate
• argue
• argufy
• bicker
• brabble
• brawl
• controvert
• dispute
• fall out
• fight
• hassle
• jar
• quarrel
• quibble
• row
• scrap
• squabble
• tiff
• wrangle

Examples of spat in a Sentence

Noun (3)

like any couple, they have their spats

Verb

They were typical sisters, spatting one minute, playing together the next.

we tend to spat over money more than anything else

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

More Rebecca Blackwell/AP What To Know The Restore Our Nation (RON) PAC blasted out a fundraising email defending Musk on Thursday afternoon as the billionaire's spat with the president boiled over. —Sonam Sheth, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 June 2025

New York Giants great Carl Banks got into a social media spat with radio personality Gregg Giannotti on Monday as the reaction to the New York Knicks’ season ending in anticlimactic fashion poured in. —Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 4 June 2025

Verb

The first is that when U.S. soldiers returned from the war there, protesters spat upon them in disdain. —Jonathan Zimmerman, Foreign Affairs, 19 May 2016

The flare comes after nearly a week of flares and coronal plasma ejections spat toward the planet that threatened disruptions to power and communications systems on Earth. —Greg Wehner, Fox News, 15 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

origin unknown

Noun (2)

short for spatterdash legging

Noun (3)

origin unknown

First Known Use

Noun (1)

1667, in the meaning defined above

Noun (2)

circa 1802, in the meaning defined above

Noun (3)

1729, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

circa 1832, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Rhymes for spat

• at
• bat
• batt
• brat
• cat
• chat
• fat
• flat
• gat
• gnat
• hat
• kat

Kids Definition

spat

1 of 5

ˈspat 

past and past participle of spit

spat

2 of 5 noun

plural spat or spats

: a young oyster

spat

3 of 5 noun

: a cloth or leather covering for the instep and ankle

spat

4 of 5 noun

1

: a brief unimportant quarrel : dispute

2

: a sound like that of rain falling in large drops

spat

5 of 5 verb

spatted; spatting

1

: to have a spat : quarrel

2

: to strike with a sound like that of rain falling in large drops

Etymology

Noun

origin unknown

Noun

a shortened form of spatterdash "a protective covering for the ankle or leg"

Medical Definition

spat

past and past part of spit