battles royal

noun

variants or battle royals or battles royale or battle royales
plural of battle royal
as in disputes
an often noisy or angry expression of differing opinions the sisters had a battle royal over whose turn it was to use the family car

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for battles royal
  1. disputes
  2. altercations
  3. fights
  4. quarrels
  5. disagreements
  6. controversies
  7. arguments
  8. brawls
Noun
  • Other disputes are minor, like the three animal rights activists who stole lambs from King Charles’ Sandringham estate.
    — Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 3 Oct. 2026
  • In the last year alone, the federal government partially shut down twice for weeks because of partisan disputes in Congress over spending on healthcare and immigration enforcement.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 Oct. 2026
Definition of disputes
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
  • Two of Iowa’s four Republican House members, both in their own worrying reelection fights, had just broken with the president to vote to stop the war with Iran.
    — Natalie Allison, Washington Post, 6 Oct. 2026
  • The company stages live fights where people remotely control humanoid robots against other humanoid robots.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of fights
Noun
  • The overtones of social significance are adroitly handled and make real sense in an era of tragic international quarrels.
    — THR Staff, HollywoodReporter, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Unlike Christian priests and medicine men, who generally command respect, rainmakers are sometimes seen as malicious people who retaliate against whole communities for quarrels with their neighbors.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of quarrels
Noun
  • The economy has produced another set of disagreements, particularly over government spending, employment, and social programs.
    — Katie Angell Britannica Editors Oct. 2, Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Oct. 2026
  • The suit also asserted Vista Grande initiated the ER trips in retaliation for the family's disagreements about Tingley's care.
    — Jordan Rau, NPR, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of disagreements
Noun
  • That project was beset by controversies and setbacks, including Essar Steel Minnesota filing for bankruptcy in 2016.
    — Kevin Breuninger, CNBC, 28 Sep. 2026
  • The Drivecast is The Drive‘s weekly podcast that takes you behind the scenes on the big stories, controversies, and characters shaping the automotive industry and the way our roads look today.
    — Kyle Cheromcha, The Drive, 24 Sep. 2026
Definition of controversies
Noun
  • The new Type 01—revealed today in New York—will be judged by the same standards, with the arguments already begun and the marque, again, putting its future on the line.
    — Erik Shilling, Robb Report, 7 Oct. 2026
  • Those decisions have been handed down after months of consideration, including oral arguments.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of arguments
Noun
  • 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
  • These days, oversight hearings have degenerated into partisan brawls.
    — David Wippman, Washington Post, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of brawls
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.

Browse Nearby Words

battles
battles royal
battling
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Battles royal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/battles%20royal. Accessed 7 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of discreet

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
name tags
Words Named After People Quiz Find out who’s behind "leotard," "morphine," an...
See All