altercation
Syllables: al·ter·cat·ion/ˌɔːltəˈkeɪʃn̩/US/ˌɔltɚˈkeɪʃən/
altercation noun: an angry or heated dispute.
Noun
altercation (countable and uncountable, plural altercations)
- An angry or heated dispute.
- to get into an altercation over (something)
- The shooting resulted from an altercation between two armed intoxicated men.
- Synonyms:
- argument, wrangle, argy-bargy, contention, barney, bawl out, blue, bobbery, brawl, clash
- An act of posing questions to, and obtaining answers from, a witness in a court of law.
- The vvhole of this proceſs is denominated the pleading; in the ſeveral ſtages of vvhich it muſt be carefully obſerved, not to depart or vary from the title or defence, vvhich the party has once inſiſted on. For this (vvhich is called a departure in pleading) might occaſion endleſs altercation.1768, William Blackstone, “Of Pleading”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book III (Of Private Wrongs), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 310
- Angry or heated disputation.
- VVee ſeldome find one peece of Scripture ſo preciſely and plainely expounded by another, as in this Prophecie, to haue aftervvards beene the Subiect of altercation.1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], “That the 70. Years of Captiuitie are to be Numbred from the Destruction of Ierusalem; not from the Migration of Iechonia”, in The Historie of the World...
- The greateſt of my trouble is, that I am forced to deal vvith a vvriting vvhich is filled vvith […] ſo many angry vvords, and ſo many hiſtoricall untruths, that, as I knovv my very mentioning the later vvill be ill taken, ſo I knovv not hovv to deal vvith the former. For if I ſhould pleaſe my ſelf...1651, Richard Baxter, “A Corrective for a Circumforaneous Antidote against the Verity of a Passage in the Epistle before My Treatise of Rest. Section I.”, in Plain Scripture Proof of Infants...
altercation meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
altercation in Hindi
- countable: angry or heated dispute
- बिबाद bibād, चपक़ुलश capqulaś, झगड़ा jhagṛā, रार rār, विवाद vivād, कहासुनी kahāsunī
altercation in Tamil
- countable: angry or heated dispute
- கலகம் kalakam, தகராறு takarāṟu
altercation in Urdu
- countable: angry or heated dispute
- بباد bibād, چَپْقُلَش capqulaś, جھگڑا jhagṛā, رار rār
altercation in Bengali
- countable: angry or heated dispute
- বাহাস bahaś, বিবাদ bibad
More languagesFewer languages
- altercation in Telugu
- కజ్జా kajjā
- altercation in Malayalam
- വാക്കേറ്റം, തർക്കം, വാക്കിലേറ്റം, വാദം
- altercation in Kannada
- ಜಗಳ, ವ್ಯಾಜ್ಯ, ವಾಕ್ಕಲಹ, ಮಾತಿನ ಜಗಳ
- altercation in Pashto
- مجادله mujādalá
- altercation in Tagalog
- basag-ulo
- altercation in Arabic
- هَوْشَة hawša, نِزَاع nizāʕ
- altercation in Persian
- مشاجره mošâjere
Examples of altercation in a sentence
- An altercation cannot end in your favour.1753 (indicated as 1754), [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XIX. Miss Byron. In Continuation.”, in The History of Sir Charles Grandison. […]...
- "What the hell is it to you who are my friends?" roared McMurdo in a voice which brought every head in the carriage round to witness the altercation.1914 September – 1915 May, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Man”, in The Valley of Fear: A Sherlock Holmes Novel, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry]...
- The tvvo Chambermaids being again left along, began a ſecond Bout at Altercation, vvhich ſoon produced a Combat of a more active Kind.1749, Henry Fielding, “Containing Scenes of Altercation, of No Very Uncommon Kind”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume III...
- This was another common procedure on the part of the ladies of the Hole, when heated by verbal or fistic altercation.1864 May – 1865 November, Charles Dickens, “More Birds of Prey”, in Our Mutual Friend. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […]...
Synonyms of altercation
29 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of altercation
| plural | altercations |
|---|
Origin of altercation
Borrowed from Latin altercātiō. Cognates * Catalan altercació * Italian altercazione * Occitan altercatio, altercassion * Portuguese altercação * Spanish altercación
Words that rhyme with altercation
- station
- collation
- accommodation
- presentation
- derivation
- information
- modulation
- translation
- application
- fixation
- generation
- orientation
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- citation
- combination
- communication
- conjugation
- constellation
- determination
- elevation
- operation
- relation
- reservation
- alternation
- condensation
- conversation
- deviation
- excavation
- foliation
- formation
- foundation
- incarnation
- interpretation
- representation
- retardation
- speculation
- termination
- abbreviation
- adaptation
- articulation
- bifurcation
- concentration
- congregation
- declination
- degradation
- expectation
- extenuation
- gradation
- observation
- population
- preparation
- reconciliation
- rotation
- separation
- situation
- vexation
- vindication
- accumulation
- administration
- aggregation
- appropriation
Questions about altercation
- What does altercation mean?
- Altercation means an angry or heated dispute.
- What is altercation in Hindi?
- Altercation in Hindi is बिबाद (bibād), चपक़ुलश (capqulaś), झगड़ा (jhagṛā). See Altercation meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use altercation in a sentence?
- An altercation cannot end in your favour.
- What part of speech is altercation?
- Altercation is a noun.
- How do you pronounce altercation?
- Altercation is pronounced /ˌɔːltəˈkeɪʃn̩/ (UK).
- What is the plural of altercation?
- The plural of altercation is altercations.
Words near altercation in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: altercation (page history and authors); altercation (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); altercation (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-altercation.wav.
Cite this entry: “altercation.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/altercation. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.