as in quarrel
an often noisy or angry expression of differing opinions
got into a little tiff about what color sheets to buy for their bed
Synonyms & Similar Words
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as in to bicker
to express different opinions about something often angrily
like any couple, they occasionally tiff, but it's never anything serious
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of tiff
Jessica Kiang, Variety, 13 Oct. 2025
Thinking back to her 12-show stint as an opener for *NSYNC during 2001’s PopOdyssey tour, Gibson recalled getting into a tiff with the boy band’s management team about wanting to use her own piano for her set.
—Mark Gray, People.com, 10 Sep. 2025
Ryan Kang | Getty Images Sports fans who watch games on YouTube TV got good news yesterday amid Google's tiff with Fox.
—Alex Harring, CNBC, 28 Aug. 2025
Alex gets in a tiff with Boyd Holbrook’s provocative podcaster Brodie, but they are later seen face to face in what looks like close quarters.
—Dessi Gomez, Deadline, 20 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tiff
Noun
Returning home from some opening or other one evening, Marta (Rohrwacher) and her partner Antonio (Elio Germano) get into an apparently familiar argument — more of a tiff really — that for some reason this time escalates towards a different end, with Antonio moving out.
—Jessica Kiang, Variety, 13 Oct. 2025
Thinking back to her 12-show stint as an opener for *NSYNC during 2001’s PopOdyssey tour, Gibson recalled getting into a tiff with the boy band’s management team about wanting to use her own piano for her set.
—Mark Gray, People.com, 10 Sep. 2025
Ryan Kang | Getty Images Sports fans who watch games on YouTube TV got good news yesterday amid Google's tiff with Fox.
—Alex Harring, CNBC, 28 Aug. 2025
Alex gets in a tiff with Boyd Holbrook’s provocative podcaster Brodie, but they are later seen face to face in what looks like close quarters.
—Dessi Gomez, Deadline, 20 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tiff
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tiff
Noun
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But by agreeing to disagree on these ideological quarrels, negotiators could manage to find ways to prevent them from triggering unnecessary crises.—
Mohammad Javad Zarif,
Foreign Affairs,
22 Dec. 2025
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Police said the quarrel escalated when a 39-year-old man pulled out a gun and shot the victim twice.—
Natalie McMillan,
CBS News,
15 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Someone on the bench started bickering with Cameroon’s first goalscorer, Junior Tchamadeu, during a break in play.—
Jay Harris,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2026
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The Federal Reserve chair and the president stood stiffly, side by side, in matching hard hats, bickering on a building site, for all the world to see.—
Eleanor Pringle,
Fortune,
29 Dec. 2025
Noun
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During the altercation, the security guard shot and killed the man, McCabe said.—
Caroline Zimmerman,
Kansas City Star,
7 Jan. 2026
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In 2019, Dykstra had drug and terroristic threat charges dropped after an altercation with an Uber driver in New Jersey in 2018.—
Matt Moret,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 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
Noun
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Opening arguments in a Stanford felony vandalism case began Friday amid sharp disputes over whether political views tied to Israel’s war in Gaza should factor into the trial — an issue that has shaped the case from its earliest stages.—
Ryan Macasero,
Mercury News,
10 Jan. 2026
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Police had initially said the shooting involved a family dispute but gave no specific details.—
Silas Morgan,
The Orlando Sentinel,
10 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Barton gave the jury the impression of a man prepared to go into daily combat on numerous fronts, constantly fighting one battle after another, in service of his principles.—
Greg O'Keeffe,
New York Times,
9 Nov. 2025
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Players fought, fought, fought, gave us every chance in the world.—
Maddie Hartley,
Kansas City Star,
9 Nov. 2025
Noun
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The controversy stemmed from an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR filed by Jordan’s 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, which argued the racing organization wasn’t properly sharing its revenue with the teams that compete in the sport’s top company.—
Sean Neumann,
PEOPLE,
7 Jan. 2026
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Continue reading … AMERICAN CULTURE QUIZ – Test yourself on culinary controversies and presidential proclamations.—
,
FOXNews.com,
7 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The conviction was later vacated in 2016, after a new legal team argued that Max’s original trial lawyer had a conflict of interest in the case.—
Daniel Kreps,
Rolling Stone,
9 Nov. 2025
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Schumer on Saturday persisted in arguing that Republicans should accept a one-year extension of the subsidies before negotiating the future of the tax credits.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
9 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tiff.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tiff. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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