brawl
/bɹɔːl/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/bɹoːl/
brawl noun: a disorderly argument or fight, usually with a large number of people involved. Also the alternative form of branle.
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Noun (1)
brawl (plural brawls)
- A disorderly argument or fight, usually with a large number of people involved.
- Three Ciuell brawles bred of an airie word, / By the old Capulet and Mountague, / Haue thrice diſturbd the quiet of our ſtreets.c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Juliet. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, published 1597, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]
- The complaint charged that the defendants, on, etc., at, etc., "in a certain public place, to wit, in a certain school-house in which a singing-school was then and there being held, did make a great brawl and tumult, and stamped their feet on the floor, hissed, used loud and saucy language, and...1874 December 18, John M. Shirley, state reporter, “State v. Rollins”, in Reports of Cases in the Superior Court of Judicature of New Hampshire, volume LV, Concord, N.H.: Published by Josiah B....
- Synonyms:
- row, scuffle, squabble, argument, argy-bargy, altercation, contention, barney, bawl out, blue
Verb (1)
brawl (third-person singular simple present brawls, present participle brawling, simple past and past participle brawled)
- To engage in a brawl; to fight or quarrel.
- I doe the wrong, and firſt began to braule / The ſecret miſchiefes that I ſet abroach, / I lay vnto the grieuous charge of others: [...]c. 1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Sims [and Peter Short] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC...
- Theſe are the deep and profound Myſteries of Artificial Logick, invented with ſo much care by theſe fallacious Doctors, [...] Theſe are the Nets, and theſe are the Hounds with which they hunt the Truth of all things, whether natural, as in Phyſicks; or ſupernatural, as in Metaphyſicks: but...1676, Henry Cornelius Agrippa [i.e., Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim], “Of Logick”, in The Vanity of Arts and Sciences, London: Printed by J. C. for Samuel Speed, […], →OCLC, page 43
- To create a disturbance; to complain loudly.
- Say beggar, why brawlest þou? go boune þe to þe barre.[1430–1440, “XXX. The Tapiteres and Couchers. The Dream of Pilate’s Wife: Jesus before Pilate.”, in Lucy Toulmin Smith, editor, York Plays: The Plays Performed by the Crafts or Mysteries of York on...
- She [the son's wife] is one that is euermore full of ſtryfe / And of all Scolders beareth the Bell. / When ſhe ſpeaketh beſt, ſhe brawleth her tonge / When ſhe is ſtyll ſhe fyghteth apace: / She is an olde Witch thoughe ſhe be yonge, / No mirth with her, no ioye or ſolace.c. 1560, Thomas Ingelend, A Pretie and Mery New Enterlude, Called The Disobedient Child, imprinted at London: […] [B]y Thomas Colwell, →OCLC; republished as John S. Farmer, editor, The Disobedient...
- Especially of a rapid stream running over stones: to make a loud, confused noise.
- To day my Lord of Amiens, and my ſelfe, / Did ſteale behinde him as he lay along / Vnder an oake, whoſe anticke roote peepes out / Vpon the brooke that brawles along this wood, [...]c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- ―When low-hung clouds each ſtar of ſummer hide, / And fireleſs are the valleys far and wide, / Where the brook brawls along the painful road, / Dark with bat haunted aſhes ſtretching broad, [...]1793, W[illiam] Wordsworth, An Evening Walk. An Epistle; in Verse. […], London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC; republished as “The Female Beggar. From Wordsworth’s Evening Walk.”, in The...
- To pour abuse on; to scold.
Verb (2)
brawl (third-person singular simple present brawls, present participle brawling, simple past and past participle brawled)
- To move to and fro, to quiver, to shake.
Noun (2)
brawl (plural brawls)
Also used as
brawl is also the alternative form of branle.
brawl meaning in Tagalog, Indonesian and Persian
brawl in Tagalog
- disorderly argument or fight
- rambulan
brawl in Indonesian
- disorderly argument or fight
- tawuran
- to engage in a brawl — see also fight, quarrel
- bertawuran, tawuran
brawl in Persian
- disorderly argument or fight
- کتککاری kotak-kâri
- to engage in a brawl — see also fight, quarrel
- دعوا کردن
More languagesFewer languages
- Kashmiri
- لَڑٲے laḍạ̄y, جٔگڑٕ jạgḍụ
Examples of brawl in a sentence
- Robert Carlyle appears as Begbie, who starts brawls with almost anyone who crosses his path; [...]2017 January 26, Christopher D. Shea, “‘T2 Trainspotting’: The early reviews”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times...
- He was the greatest patriot, in their eyes, who brawled the loudest, and who cared the least for decency.1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, chapter XVI, in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […]...
- Brilly and Flintlock brawled in potions class, then they brawled on the soccer field, and finally they brawled sitting in the principal's office.1998 July 2, J. K. Rowling [pseudonym; Joanne Rowling], Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter; 2), London: Bloomsbury...
- How now ſir Iohn, what are you brawling here? / Doth this become your place, your time, and buſineſſe?c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine]...
Synonyms of brawl
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of brawl
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | brawls |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | brawls |
| present participle | brawling |
| past participle | brawled |
| past | brawled |
Origin of brawl
The verb is derived from Late Middle English braulen, brall, brallen (“to clamour, to shout; to quarrel; to boast”); further etymology is uncertain, but the word could be related to bray and ultimately imitative. It may be cognate with Danish bralle (“to chatter, jabber”), Dutch brallen (“to boast”), Low German brallen (“to brag”), Middle High German prālen (“to boast, flaunt”) (modern German prahlen (“to boast, flaunt, vaunt”)). The noun is derived from Middle English brall, bralle, braul, braule, brawle (“disturbance, squabble; brawl”), from the verb braulen: see above.
Possibly from French branler (“to shake”), from Old French brandeler (“to shake, wave; to agitate”), from brand, branc (“blade of a sword”), from Vulgar Latin *brandus (“firebrand; flaming sword; sword”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrenu- (“to burn”).
From French branle (“type of dance; an act of shaking, a shake”), from branler (“to shake”), from Old French brandeler (“to shake, wave; to agitate”); see further at etymology 2. Alternatively, the word could be derived from brawl (“(obsolete) to move to and fro, quiver, shake”): see etymology 2.
Words formed from brawl
Phrases with brawl
Words that rhyme with brawl
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- pall
- paul
- recall
- tall
- Donegal
- saul
- forestall
- Saint Paul
- all
- appall
- hauler
- maul
- overcall
- overhaul
- scrawl
- withcall
- befall
- drawl
- install
- set out one's stall
- sing small
- bawl
- orle
- spall
- sprawl
- squall
- trawl
- withal
- y'all
- acrawl
- awl
- infall
- moneyball
- overall
- pawl
- saule
- Senegal
- shawl
- spawl
- tell all
- yawl
- appal
- asprawl
- at all
- aul
- becrawl
- bescrawl
- besmall
Questions about brawl
- What does brawl mean?
- Brawl means a disorderly argument or fight, usually with a large number of people involved.
- What is brawl in Tagalog?
- Brawl in Tagalog is rambulan. See Brawl meaning in Tagalog.
- How do you use brawl in a sentence?
- Robert Carlyle appears as Begbie, who starts brawls with almost anyone who crosses his path; [...]
- What part of speech is brawl?
- Brawl can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce brawl?
- Brawl is pronounced /bɹɔːl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of brawl?
- The plural of brawl is brawls.
Words near brawl in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: brawl (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: En-uk-brawl.oga.
Cite this entry: “brawl.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/brawl. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.