as in to bicker
to express different opinions about something often angrily
this discussion is so silly we might as well altercate on how many angels can dance on the point of a needle
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for altercate
Verb
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Rollins and Breakker bickered over who was responsible for Breakker’s success.—
Ryan Gaydos,
FOXNews.com,
28 Apr. 2026 -
The two get to bickering about her terrible track record, with Dennis hilariously failing to realize that this accusation includes him among the questionable men.—
Ile-Ife Okantah,
Vulture,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Black voters who feared losing representation in Congress opposed that request and argued the justices should instead hold onto their April 29 ruling until after the election because voting in the primary had already begun.—
Maureen Groppe,
USA Today,
5 May 2026
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Yet its release may reflect a bid by European officials to seize upon a hope that critics have argued has long been their sole strategy to defeat Russia in Ukraine – to wait for its internal collapse.—
Nick Paton Walsh,
CNN Money,
4 May 2026
Verb
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In one scene in the novel, a black ram named Othello, who lives in misery in a carnival, forced to fight dogs, is visited in his pen by a strange ram bearing advice.—
Jill Lepore,
New Yorker,
9 May 2026
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Trump has gone back and forth over whether the war will end, at times expressing optimism and at other times saying Russia and Ukraine should be left to fight it out to the bitter end.—
Darlene Superville,
Chicago Tribune,
9 May 2026
Verb
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The lack of money has, at times, led to quarrelling between the services - most notably pitting the navy against the army and the Royal Air Force.—
Ian King,
CNBC,
22 Apr. 2026
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Police said witness accounts indicate that the couple arrived at Zuri Hotel in Zanzibar on April 4 and had been quarreling frequently until the night of April 8, when hotel management separated them and asked McCann to move to a separate villa about a 10-minute walk away.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
16 Apr. 2026
Verb
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In this particular game, your hopes and intentions as a player clash with an immense, almost boundless world and its survival mechanics.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
8 May 2026
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Last year, Scott clashed with Wyrick over the hiring process for a new city manager to replace Moore, who died in October 2023.—
Joseph Flaherty,
Arkansas Online,
8 May 2026
Verb
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Callie and Arizona: Another couple spatting over kids.—
Maggie Fremont,
Vulture,
9 Oct. 2025
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Mulroney, Ackerman, Snow, and Newman turn this story of spatting WAGS into an explosive, addictive watch.—
CT Jones,
Rolling Stone,
11 Aug. 2025
Verb
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In court filings, Justice Department attorneys have generally disputed accusations the government was not complying.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
2 May 2026
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Advertisement Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy disputed that Spirit’s closure could be pinned on the Iran war in a news conference Saturday.—
Rebecca Schneid,
Time,
2 May 2026
Verb
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This game is the ultimate in brawling adventure.—
BestReviews,
Mercury News,
23 Apr. 2026
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The weird thing is that Becerra does know how to brawl.—
Gustavo Arellano,
Los Angeles Times,
23 Apr. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Altercate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/altercate. Accessed 9 May. 2026.
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