different between fracas vs squabble

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

Etymology

1600s, probably of North Germanic origin, related to Swedish dialectal skvabbel (“a dispute, quarrel, gossip”), Norwegian dialectal skvabba (“to prattle”), German dialectal schwabbeln (“to babble, prattle”), Swedish dialectal skvappa (“to chide, scold”, literally “make a splash”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?skw?bl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?skw??bl/
• Rhymes: -?b?l

Noun

squabble (plural squabbles)

1. A minor fight or argument.

   The children got into a squabble about who should ride in the front of the car.

Derived terms

• squabbly

Translations

Verb

squabble (third-person singular simple present squabbles, present participle squabbling, simple past and past participle squabbled)

1. (intransitive) To participate in a minor fight or argument; to quarrel.

   The brothers were always squabbling with each other.

   • I. Watts

     The sense of these propositions is very plain, though logicians might squabble a whole day whether they should rank them under negative or affirmative.

2. (transitive, printing) To disarrange, so that the letters or lines stand awry and require readjustment.

   to squabble type

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:squabble

Derived terms

• squabbler

Translations