Word.ws English Dictionary

catfight

catfight noun: a fight between cats.

Noun

catfight (plural catfights)

  1. A fight between cats.
    • The caterwauling from the catfight in the back yard was awful; I couldn't get to sleep until it was over.
  2. (slang) A fight or bickering, especially between women.
    • Nancy and Sheila got into a catfight when Nancy's boyfriend cheated on her with Sheila.
    • Female conflict, seen in this kind of structure, works conveniently—it takes note of aggression in women and sets it against other women. Men are spared. The audience applauds. Everyone loves a catfight.1980, Louise Bernikow, Among Women, New York: Harmony Books, page 207
    Synonyms:
    hairpulling contest, scragfight

Synonyms of catfight

  • hairpulling contest
  • scragfight

Forms of catfight

pluralcatfights
alternative formcat fight

Origin of catfight

From cat + fight. So named because, like cats, scratching is a common defensive tactic among women, as opposed to a fistfight between men.

Questions about catfight

What does catfight mean?
Catfight means a fight between cats.
What part of speech is catfight?
Catfight is a noun.
What is the plural of catfight?
The plural of catfight is catfights.

Words near catfight in the dictionary

  1. catfaces
  2. catfacing
  3. catfall
  4. catfalls
  5. Catfield
  6. catfight
  7. catfighting
  8. catfights
  9. catfish
  10. catfish effect
  11. catfished

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: catfight (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-au-catfight.ogg.

Cite this entry: “catfight.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/catfight. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.