bickering

present participle of bicker

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of bickering The pair grow up frequently bickering with each other but begin dating in high school—only to end their relationship on bad terms when Seok Ji-won abruptly leaves town with his family. Regina Kim, Forbes, 31 Dec. 2024 The sellers are Lydia (Lisa Kudrow) and Paul (Ray Romano), bickering empty nesters saddled with financial woes and a dark secret. Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 13 Dec. 2024 Right out of the gate, the brothers are in a contentious mood, needling each other with elbows and bickering like little siblings. Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 13 Oct. 2024 Lehane urged some of the largest crypto investors and companies, many of whom were bickering on Twitter, to instead form a coalition devoted to changing the public narrative. Charles Duhigg, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2024 See All Example Sentences for bickering
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bickering
Verb
  • Will the two be allowed to wed, or will Ellen’s brothers, quarrelling over their father’s chair, bargain her off to other suitors to improve their chances?
    Graham Hillard, The Washington Examiner, 22 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • For decades, DeLodder said, hospitals have quelled the establishment of freestanding birthing centers by arguing against their necessity.
    Killian Baarlaer, Louisville Courier Journal, 3 Oct. 2025
  • The budget director wrote the project’s chapter on the Executive Office of the President, arguing that the bureaucracy is riddled with inefficiencies and corruption.
    Emily Hallas, The Washington Examiner, 2 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Meet Nashville's new crime-fighting Clydesdale Metro Nashville mounted patrol officer Michael Douglas squeezed a three-foot-long rubber chicken, producing an increasingly louder and closer screeching sound to try and provoke a 1,700-pound Clydesdale named Ross.
    Laura L. Davis, Nashville Tennessean, 6 Oct. 2025
  • The event, launched in 1982, celebrates the freedom to read and express ideas and emphasizes the importance of fighting censorship.
    Jennifer Borresen, USA Today, 5 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Rather than the large swath of private equity firms that backed LBOs over the years, with investors sometimes squabbling over strategy and straining under heavy debt loads, the new-model buyouts have fewer and deeper-pocketed sponsors.
    Dade Hayes, Deadline, 26 Sep. 2025
  • The year is 1868 and Benjamin Guinness, the richest man in the country, has just died, leaving his four squabbling adult children to try and carry on the family’s legacy.
    Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 25 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • To convey a sense of spontaneity and freedom of self-expression, Marino relied on maxi proportions, clashing prints and an interplay of airy, fluid fabrics with structured textures.
    Sandra Salibian, Footwear News, 29 Sep. 2025
  • But Anderson knows that, amid clashing political extremes, racial and ideological purists can make surprising, and treacherous, bedfellows.
    Justin Chang, New Yorker, 26 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Sports could be dangerous even without brawling in UFC’s Octagon, an eight-sided cage.
    Bart Jansen, USA Today, 10 Sep. 2025
  • Having a cyberarm might offset glitches in brawling attacks to encourage players to take more risk dice during a first fight.
    Rob Wieland, Forbes.com, 27 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • His size and demeanor are perfect for wrangling crowds and looking over heads at Titans games to see if people are trying to access vehicles in the parking lot, officers say.
    Craig Shoup, Nashville Tennessean, 3 Oct. 2025
  • Aside from external threats, there are internal divisions, with wrangling among Labour lawmakers limiting the ruling party's ability to change policy, with several significant U-turns on welfare spending reforms in recent months.
    Holly Ellyatt, CNBC, 30 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Bickering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bickering. Accessed 7 Oct. 2025.

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