affrays

noun

plural of affray, chiefly British
as in brawls
a rough and often noisy fight usually involving several people the police had to break up an affray that started between fans of the opposing teams

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for affrays
  1. brawls
  2. altercations
  3. clashes
Noun
  • There are brawls over policy that lead to lawsuits, but the main drama is the 2023 school board election, where the Democrats hoped to reverse the Republicans’ 6-3 majority.
    — Stuart Miller, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2026
  • The Rek Humanoid Robot Fighting League is a fighting organization that hosts humanoid robot versus robot brawls in an undersized MMA cage.
    — Jon Martindale, PC Magazine, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of brawls
Noun
  • Images showed altercations between police and protesters, with officers using batons to strike demonstrators, who threw barriers.
    — Joseph Wilson, Fortune, 5 Oct. 2026
  • The election is taking place amid heightened political tensions in Serbia, with reports of incidents and physical altercations at campaign events.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 Oct. 2026
Definition of altercations
Noun
  • Likewise, the student protests over the weekend expanded from education to other grievances — and featured dramatic scenes of looting and clashes with police.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 21 Oct. 2026
  • The unrest, fueled by anger over living costs and poor school conditions, included arson, clashes with police and looting; officials say curfews will continue where needed.
    — Tom Nouvian, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of clashes
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Affrays.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/affrays. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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