Word.ws English Dictionary

picking a fight

picking a fight is the present participle and gerund of pick a fight.

Meaning of pick a fight

Verb

pick a fight (third-person singular simple present picks a fight, present participle picking a fight, simple past and past participle picked a fight)

  1. (idiomatic, informal) To deliberately provoke someone into fighting.
    Synonyms:
    pick a quarrel

Questions about picking a fight

What is picking a fight the present participle and gerund of?
Picking a fight is the present participle and gerund of pick a fight.

Words near picking a fight in the dictionary

  1. pickily
  2. pickin'
  3. pickin' and grinnin'
  4. pickiness
  5. picking
  6. picking a fight
  7. picking a hole in someone's coat
  8. picking a lane
  9. picking a quarrel
  10. picking and choosing
  11. picking and grinning

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: picking a fight (page history and authors); pick a fight (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.

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