Word.ws English Dictionary

squabbling

squabbling noun: a petty argument or conflict. Also the present participle and gerund of squabble.

Noun

squabbling (plural squabblings)

  1. A petty argument or conflict.
    • Since the provinces declared their independence, broils and squabblings of one sort and another have greatly retarded the advancement which they might otherwise have made.1840, Robert Chambers, William Chambers, Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, volume 8, page 382
    • And as for ancient history, I think a good share of that could be bonfired. Kings, Emperors, Popes, Doges, Consuls, Priests, Shahs, Pharoahs, and all their quarrels and squabblings, with the times and seasons of the same—what a fine blaze they would make, and it is the only fine thing they could...1894, William Hawley Smith, “House-cleaning and History”, in Walks Abroad and Talks about Them, Peoria, Ill.: Educational Press Association, →OCLC, page 210

Also used as

squabbling is also the present participle and gerund of squabble.

Forms of squabbling

pluralsquabblings

Words formed from squabbling

Phrases with squabbling

Questions about squabbling

What does squabbling mean?
Squabbling means a petty argument or conflict.
What part of speech is squabbling?
Squabbling is a noun.
What is the plural of squabbling?
The plural of squabbling is squabblings.

Words near squabbling in the dictionary

  1. squabbled
  2. squabbler
  3. squabblers
  4. squabbles
  5. squabblesome
  6. squabbling
  7. squabbling bleeder
  8. squabbling bleeders
  9. squabblingly
  10. squabblings
  11. squabbly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: squabbling (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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