different between fracas vs battle

English

Etymology

From French fracas, derived from fracasser, from Italian fracassare, from fra- + cassare, equivalent to Latin infra + quassare.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?f?æk??/, /f???k??/
  • Plural: IPA^(key): /?f?æk??z/, /f???k??z/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?f?e?k?s/, /?f?æk?s/

Noun

fracas (plural fracases or fracas)

1. A noisy disorderly quarrel, fight, brawl, disturbance or scrap.
   • 1989, Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day, Faber 1999, paperback edition, p. 16,

     And I recall also some years ago, Mr Rayne, who travelled to America as valet to Sir Reginals Mauvis, remarking that a taxi driver in New York regularly addressed his fare in a manner which if repeated in London would end in some sort of fracas, if not in the fellow being frogmarched to the nearest police station.

   • 1964, Philip K. Dick, The Simulacra, Vintage Books 2002, paperback edition, p. 37,

     The Oregon-Northern California region had lost much of its population during the fracas of 1980; it had been heavily hit by Red Chinese guided missiles, and of course the clouds of fallout had blanketed it in the subsequent decade.

Synonyms

• brouhaha
• donnybrook
• kerfuffle
• melee

Related terms

• quash

Translations

Anagrams

• Frasca, carsaf

French

Etymology

Probably an independent derivation from fracasser, from Italian fracassare. Alternatively directly borrowed from Italian fracasso, from the same verb.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?a.k?/

Noun

fracas m (plural fracas)

1. crash
2. din, roar

Descendants

• ? English: fracas

Further reading

• “fracas” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Galician

Adjective

fracas

1. feminine plural of fraco

Portuguese

Adjective

fracas

1. feminine plural of fraco

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?bæt?l/, [?bat???]
• (US) enPR: b?t'l, IPA^(key): /?bætl?/, [?bæ???], [bæt??]
• Rhymes: -æt?l
• Hyphenation: bat?tle

Etymology 1

From Middle English batel, batell, batelle, batayle, bataylle, borrowed from Old French bataille, from Late Latin batt?lia, variant of battu?lia (“fighting and fencing exercises”) from Latin battu? (“to strike, hit, beat, fight”), from a Gaulish root from Proto-Indo-European *b?ed?- (“to stab, dig”). Doublet of battalia and battel.

Displaced native Old English ?efeoht.

Alternative forms

• batail, battel, battell (14th–17th centuries)

Noun

battle (plural battles)

1. A contest, a struggle.
   • 1611, Bible (KJV), Ecclesiastes, 9:11:
2. (military) A general action, fight, or encounter, in which all the divisions of an army are or may be engaged; a combat, an engagement.
3. (military, now rare) A division of an army; a battalion.
4. (military, obsolete) The main body of an army, as distinct from the vanguard and rear; the battalia.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Hayward to this entry?)

Derived terms

Related terms

• battlement

Translations

Verb

battle (third-person singular simple present battles, present participle battling, simple past and past participle battled)

1. (intransitive) To join in battle; to contend in fight

   Scientists always battle over theories.

   She has been battling against cancer for years.

2. (transitive) To fight or struggle; to enter into a battle with.

   She has been battling cancer for years.

Derived terms

• battle it out

Related terms

• embattle

Translations

Etymology 2

From Early Modern English batell, probably from Middle English *batel (“flourishing”), from Old English *batol (“improving, tending to be good”), from batian (“to get better, improve”) + -ol ( +? -le).

Alternative forms

• battil, battill, battel, baittle, bettle, batwell

Adjective

battle (comparative more battle, superlative most battle)

1. (Britain dialectal, chiefly Scotland, Northern England, agriculture) Improving; nutritious; fattening.

   battle grass, battle pasture

2. (Britain dialectal, chiefly Scotland, Northern England) Fertile; fruitful.

   battle soil, battle land

Derived terms

• overbattle

Verb

battle (third-person singular simple present battles, present participle battling, simple past and past participle battled)

1. (transitive, Britain dialectal, chiefly Scotland, Northern England) To nourish; feed.
2. (transitive, Britain dialectal, chiefly Scotland, Northern England) To render (for example soil) fertile or fruitful

Related terms

• batful
• batten

Further reading

• battle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• battle in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “battle”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• batlet, battel, tablet