as in bickering
to express different opinions about something often angrily
the children squabbled loudly over who got to play with the toy first
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Recent Examples of squabbling
With supply shrinking, the states continue squabbling.
—
Trevor Hughes,
USA Today,
26 June 2026
Parties generally avoid this kind of squabbling in wide-open governor’s races by letting the candidates compete and seeing who wins the primary, said Gregory Koger, a political science professor at the University of Miami.
—
Jeffrey Schweers,
The Orlando Sentinel,
21 June 2026
Cobb County and Mableton have been squabbling over police services.
—
Adam Beam,
AJC.com,
16 June 2026
Then there are the lesser houses, the lower fiefdoms squabbling over the crumbs that fall from the big kids’ table.
—
Joe Wilkins,
Futurism,
14 May 2026
The squabbling brothers of the north west.
—
Ian Irving,
New York Times,
3 May 2026
Starting German star Timo Werner for the first time since mid-March, the Earthquakes played compactly before the halftime break, squabbling over the middle of the park with LAFC as both teams fell short in the final third.
—
Josh Gross,
Daily News,
20 Apr. 2026
While the other males in the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve’s Kea group spend lots of time squabbling and making threat displays, Bruce is free to wander the aviary and monopolize feeding stations and prime perches, the study reports.
—
Elizabeth Anne Brown,
Scientific American,
20 Apr. 2026
That’s not because its member countries have suddenly stopped squabbling or its bureaucratic inertia has melted away.
—
Joseph De Weck,
The Atlantic,
17 Feb. 2026
Trevor Hughes,
USA Today,
26 June 2026
Parties generally avoid this kind of squabbling in wide-open governor’s races by letting the candidates compete and seeing who wins the primary, said Gregory Koger, a political science professor at the University of Miami.
—
Jeffrey Schweers,
The Orlando Sentinel,
21 June 2026
Cobb County and Mableton have been squabbling over police services.
—
Adam Beam,
AJC.com,
16 June 2026
Then there are the lesser houses, the lower fiefdoms squabbling over the crumbs that fall from the big kids’ table.
—
Joe Wilkins,
Futurism,
14 May 2026
The squabbling brothers of the north west.
—
Ian Irving,
New York Times,
3 May 2026
Starting German star Timo Werner for the first time since mid-March, the Earthquakes played compactly before the halftime break, squabbling over the middle of the park with LAFC as both teams fell short in the final third.
—
Josh Gross,
Daily News,
20 Apr. 2026
While the other males in the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve’s Kea group spend lots of time squabbling and making threat displays, Bruce is free to wander the aviary and monopolize feeding stations and prime perches, the study reports.
—
Elizabeth Anne Brown,
Scientific American,
20 Apr. 2026
That’s not because its member countries have suddenly stopped squabbling or its bureaucratic inertia has melted away.
—
Joseph De Weck,
The Atlantic,
17 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for squabbling
Verb
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The emotional distress may have stemmed from the family's extended trip together and bickering, his mother told USA TODAY on June 3.
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While the concrete cured, the starting eight matches of the first-ever World Cup were relocated to Pocitos and Gran Parque Central, the home grounds of capital rivals Peñarol and Nacional, who'd been bickering since their first meeting in July 1900.
Verb
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Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, officials are pausing data center development for one year, with vocal neighbors arguing that the risk posed by a controversial project outweigh the threat of litigation.
-
President Donald Trump‘s first-term Attorney General Bill Barr is making an aggressive public push for Senate Republicans to confirm Todd Blanche as the nation’s next attorney general, arguing the president’s acting Justice Department chief is the best person to lead the department.
Verb
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Now might not seem the moment for Democrats to be quarrelling, but many of them believe that the only way to build the Party back up is to remake it.
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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.
Verb
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Then some classic fighting soldiers — not American Revolution battles but intergalactic — come blended into the metal music gyrations of the helmet-wearing band Galactic Empire.
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As with fighting the coronavirus pandemic and the climate crisis, the urgency of the problem will likely only sink in when the need arises.
Cite this Entry
“Squabbling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/squabbling. Accessed 28 Jun. 2026.
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