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skirmish

skir·mish
S s

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [skur-mish]
    • /ˈskɜr mɪʃ/
    • /ˈskɜː.mɪʃ/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [skur-mish]
    • /ˈskɜr mɪʃ/

Definitions of skirmish word

  • noun skirmish Military. a fight between small bodies of troops, especially advanced or outlying detachments of opposing armies. 1
  • noun skirmish any brisk conflict or encounter: She had a skirmish with her landlord about the rent. 1
  • verb without object skirmish to engage in a skirmish. 1
  • noun skirmish physical struggle or fight 1
  • noun skirmish brief conflict, small battle 1
  • intransitive verb skirmish engage in brief conflict 1

Information block about the term

Origin of skirmish

First appearance:

before 1300
One of the 15% oldest English words
1300-50; (noun) Middle English skirmysshe < Old French eskirmiss-, long stem of eskirmir < Germanic (compare Old High German skirman); replacing Middle English scarmouche < Old French escaramoucher (see Scaramouch); (v.) late Middle English scarmuchen, scarmusshen to skirmish, Middle English skirmisshen to brandish a weapon < Old French escar(a)mucher to skirmish; vowels influenced by Old French eskirmiss-

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Skirmish

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

skirmish popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 88% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.

skirmish usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for skirmish

noun skirmish

  • action — Action is doing something for a particular purpose.
  • affray — An affray is a noisy and violent fight, especially in a public place.
  • antinomy — opposition of one law, principle, or rule to another; contradiction within a law
  • attack — To attack a person or place means to try to hurt or damage them using physical violence.
  • brush-off — a refusal to talk or listen to someone; abrupt or final dismissal or rebuff.

verb skirmish

  • altercate — to argue, esp heatedly; dispute
  • battle — A battle is a violent fight between groups of people, especially one between military forces during a war.
  • come to blows — to fight
  • contend — If you have to contend with a problem or difficulty, you have to deal with it or overcome it.
  • disagree — to fail to agree; differ: The conclusions disagree with the facts. The theories disagree in their basic premises.

Top questions with skirmish

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See also

Matching words

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