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.
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Noun
Since January 17, however, Rochdale and York had been embroiled in their own private pass-the-parcel tussle, with the top spot changing hands a dozen times.—Richard Sutcliffe, New York Times, 26 Apr. 2026 While the program has produced lighter moments for political junkies, such as the Allison-Singleton banter, clips of occasional spats between panelists have made the show a messy must-watch for virtual viewers who casually tune in to the tussles on social media.—Jay Stahl, USA Today, 18 Apr. 2026
Verb
Analysts say Altman and Musk tussled over who would lead the company, and Musk lost.—John Ruwitch, NPR, 27 Apr. 2026 Two boys tussling over a bladder in a three-foot-high canvas painted by Joseph Wright of Derby in the late 1760s snarl up in a whirlpool of pain, each twisting the other’s right ear.—Julian Bell, The New York Review of Books, 25 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for tussle
Word History
Etymology
Verb
Middle English (Scots) tussillen, frequentative of Middle English -tusen, -tousen to tousle — more at touse