QUARREL (quarrelled, quarrelling)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: quarrelled    , quarrelling   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does quarrel mean? 

• QUARREL (noun)
  The noun QUARREL has 2 senses:

1. an angry dispute

2. an arrow that is shot from a crossbow; has a head with four edges

  Familiarity information: QUARREL used as a noun is rare.

• QUARREL (verb)
  The verb QUARREL has 1 sense:

1. have a disagreement over something

  Familiarity information: QUARREL used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• QUARREL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An angry dispute

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

dustup; quarrel; row; run-in; words; wrangle

Context example:

they had words

Hypernyms ("quarrel" is a kind of...):

conflict; difference; difference of opinion; dispute (a disagreement or argument about something important)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "quarrel"):

affray; altercation; fracas (noisy quarrel)

bicker; bickering; fuss; pettifoggery; spat; squabble; tiff (a quarrel about petty points)

bust-up (a serious quarrel (especially one that ends a friendship))

Derivation:

quarrel (have a disagreement over something)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An arrow that is shot from a crossbow; has a head with four edges

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("quarrel" is a kind of...):

arrow (a projectile with a straight thin shaft and an arrowhead on one end and stabilizing vanes on the other; intended to be shot from a bow)

• QUARREL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they quarrel    ... he / she / it quarrels   
Past simple: quarreled    / quarrelled   
Past participle: quarreled    / quarrelled   
-ing form: quarreling    / quarrelling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Have a disagreement over something

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

altercate; argufy; dispute; quarrel; scrap

Context example:

These two fellows are always scrapping over something

Hypernyms (to "quarrel" is one way to...):

argue; contend; debate; fence (have an argument about something)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "quarrel"):

brawl; wrangle (to quarrel noisily, angrily or disruptively)

spat (engage in a brief and petty quarrel)

polemicise; polemicize; polemise; polemize (engage in a controversy)

fall out (have a breach in relations)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence examples:

Sam and Sue quarrel
Sam wants to quarrel with Sue

Derivation:

quarrel (an angry dispute)

quarreler; quarreller (a disputant who quarrels)

 Context examples 

Though utterly unlike in character, the twins got on remarkably well together, and seldom quarreled more than thrice a day.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

So the cub had no quarrel with his hostile environment.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

“Copperfield,” he said, “there must be two parties to a quarrel. I won't be one.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

We must remember, in the first place, that there is some story of a family quarrel, followed by a reconciliation.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This being so, it seems most passing strange that you should talk so loudly of war and of companies when there is no quarrel between the French and us.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"There is no quarrelling with you. And when I think of Benwick, my tongue is tied."

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Why should he pay her such attentions as to make her quarrel with my brother, and then fly off himself?

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

This door was open; a light shone out of the room within: I heard thence a snarling, snatching sound, almost like a dog quarrelling.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

So there were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Sometimes one prince quarrels with another for fear the other should quarrel with him.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)