to do battle
/dˈuː bˈæɾəl/
phrase
to engage in a fight or argument
Click to see examples

Examples

1In Mysterious Island (1961), castaways do battle with a gigantic crab and a huge bird.
2The first was that we felt like we had to do battle with two forces out there, and Erik has talked about them.
3Three claimants to the title quickly rise, and prepare to do battle over who would wear the crown.
4Then, when they did did do battle, it was the bloodiest day of Napoleon’s career.
5By August 29th, he and his army were positioned to do battle at Manassas, Virginia, where he defeated the Union army for a second time before invading Maryland.
to downvote
/ˈdaʊnˈvoʊt/
verb
to show one's disagreement or disapproval of an online post or comment by clicking on a specific icon
Click to see examples

Examples

1But if any of those trolls should show up in our comment section, I leave it to our thoughtful and vigilant regular commenters to swiftly downvote them, because we do not have time for that on this channel.
downvote
/ˈdaʊnˈvoʊt/
noun
the action of showing one's disagreement or disapproval of an online post or comment by clicking on a specific icon
Click to see examples

Examples

1But if any of those trolls should show up in our comment section, I leave it to our thoughtful and vigilant regular commenters to swiftly downvote them, because we do not have time for that on this channel.
to duke it out
/dˈuːk ɪt ˈaʊt/
phrase
to argue or fight until a disagreement is resolved
Click to see examples

Examples

1Then the two actors continued to duke it out in the middle of the street.
2Athena then chases Crystal up the stairs, where they duke it out some more.
3And, they can say they did manage to duke it out.
4They were about to duke it out.
5- Do you wish to Duke it out?
dustup
/dˈʌstʌp/
noun
a quarrel or fight
Click to see examples

Examples

1Wonder if Peeler and KG discussed any of that in 2004 when they got in a little dustup?
2Holm didn't seem to be bothered by the dustup.
to embroil
/ɛmˈbɹɔɪɫ/
verb
to involve someone in an argument, conflict, or complex situation
Click to see examples

Examples

1Ilhan Omar is embroiled in another controversy today.
2Much like the Spanish side of South America, the nation of Brazil was currently embroiled in an independence struggle against its own colonial father, Portugal.
3The Local Buddhist Sinhalese were embroiled by wars both with Hindu Tamils, and amongst themselves.
4Emperor Basil II of Eastern Rome was embroiled in a civil war with a rebellious general, Bardas Phokas.
5By the end of 1992 Buckingham Palace was embroiled in a CD family soap opera.
exchange
/ɪksˈtʃeɪndʒ/
noun
a brief conversation, often between two people who are in disagreement about something
Click to see examples

Examples

1They can hug each other and exchange those plasmids to exchange useful abilities.
2They can hug each other and exchange those plasmids to exchange useful abilities.
3Valley exchanges one tiger for one dog.
4The whales exchange a stream of calls.
5The following day, the couple exchanged vows once more in a Hindu ceremony.
excuse me
/ɛkskjˈuːs mˌiː/
interjection
said before one disagrees with someone in order to not be rude or offensive

Examples

1Excuse me, miss.
2Sorry, excuse me, a white paper, then a book called "Irrational Exuberance."
3Excuse me, 15.3 terabyte drive, since you could only actually wipe and refill this thing 167 times.
4"Permitame" means excuse me.
5- Excuse me this is my personality test!
to expostulate
/ɛkspˈɑːstuːlˌeɪt/
verb
to strongly argue, disapprove, or disagree with someone or something
Click to see examples

Examples

1There was not a soul there save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who seemed to be expostulating with them.
2Having had a glass or two, Mr. Swaffer’s foreigner tried to expostulate: was ejected forcibly: got a black eye.
expostulation
/ɛkspˌɑːstuːlˈeɪʃən/
noun
the action of strongly arguing, disapproving, or disagreeing with someone or something; a statement in which a person strongly argues, disapproves, or disagrees with something or someone
Click to see examples

Examples

1Increasingly, the government is going to be in a position to pilot things, test things, and not rely on speculative, before-the-fact expostulations about what's going to happen.
2Hence arise surprise, expostulation and pain.
face-off
/fˈeɪsˈɔf/
noun
an argument or fight between people
Click to see examples

Examples

1Basically the Night King and Jon Snow have this really intense face-off.
2It's kind of like a face-off.
3The winner of the face-off takes the loser's card to keep track of their points.
4Yeah, it's actually a lot like a face-off.
5There's a face-off right now.
to face off
/fˈeɪs ˈɔf/
verb
to fight, argue, etc. with someone or to get ready for doing so
Click to see examples

Examples

1You're LASERING HIS FACE OFF.
2It was a double feature with Face Off.
3And they say They'Ll Koala drop you and rip your Face Off.
4If I ever got bullied or someone started saying something about My Sister, i'll KOALA drop you and rip your Face Off.
faction
/ˈfækʃən/
noun
arguments and disagreements between small groups of people within a political party or an organization
Click to see examples

Examples

1There are factions.
2Factions had formed.
3Next, players choose factions.
4So we need more factions.
5But that faction, that second faction doesn't win the argument.
falling out
/fˈɔːlɪŋ ˈaʊt/
noun
a situation in which people are no longer friendly with each other as a result of a disagreement or quarrel
Click to see examples

Examples

1The hair started falling out.
2My umbrella keeps falling out.
3The vomiting and the diarrhea, and her hair started falling out.
4First, Mollie Maggia's teeth began falling out.
5My hair started falling out.
to fall out
/fˈɔːl ˈaʊt/
verb
to be no longer friendly with someone as a result of an argument
Click to see examples

Examples

1My contact fell out.
2The window fell out.
3My battery pack fell out.
4- Bailey's tooth just fell out.
5Her tooth just fell out.
far be it from me to
/fˈɑːɹ biː ɪt fɹʌm mˌiː tuː/
phrase
used to make it clear that one is about to criticize or disagree with someone but is unwilling to do so
Click to see examples

Examples

1Far be it from me to tell any lifelong Mariners fan how to feel about any of this, but for the rest of us, what is it truly missing?
2There are people in the gardening world, particularly tomato growers who swear by the use of copper through the tomato stem and, you know, far be it from me to condemn that or poo-poos or say it's stupid, I'm just going from my own experience and through my own experimentation.
feud
/ˈfjud/
noun
a heated argument that lasts for a long time
Click to see examples

Examples

1Kumail Nanjiani starts feud with Mongols.
2And then the families end the feud.
3Start a feud right here!
4Starting the feud right here!
5They had internecine feuds.
to feud
/ˈfjud/
verb
to have a prolonged and heated argument with someone
Click to see examples

Examples

1Kumail Nanjiani starts feud with Mongols.
2And then the families end the feud.
3Start a feud right here!
4Starting the feud right here!
5They had internecine feuds.
feuding
/ˈfjudɪŋ/
noun
sharp disagreements between people that last for a long time
Click to see examples

Examples

1Within months, police rounded up the foot soldiers of the feuding clans.
2But the reality of France, and even of Germany, in the 10th century would be as a series of nearly independent principalities feuding, only nominally controlled by the kings.
3While it seems the days of feuding are long gone, emotions spilled over on this particular stormy night.
4Therefore, many city-dwellers in the annexed lands experienced almost no change in the short term, and local princes were even allowed to continue their own feuding, as long as they did it under Seljuk auspices.
5Elizabeth I and Mary Stuart to life in 2018, but the reality of these feuding cousins differs slightly from what we saw on the big screen.
fight
/ˈfaɪt/
noun
an argument over something
Click to see examples

Examples

1Is chicken fighting a universal thing?
2Fight! -
3Fight! -
4Fighting the good fight.
5You guys did fight this round.
to fight
/ˈfaɪt/
verb
to take part in a violent action, either physical or verbal, against someone
Click to see examples

Examples

1Is chicken fighting a universal thing?
2Fight! -
3Fight! -
4Fighting the good fight.
5You guys did fight this round.
to fight fire with fire
/fˈaɪt fˈaɪɚ wɪð fˈaɪɚ/
phrase
to use methods or tactics similar to those of one's opponent in a fight or argument
Click to see examples

Examples

1And in a bid to rescue their business, their answer at the time was to fight fire with fire.
2Crews also fight fire with fire, burning ahead of a blaze so there's no unburnt kindling to catch.
3But you can fight fire with fire by sending this video to three people you know, and encouraging them to do the same.
4So rather than inject patients with just the code, another approach is more akin to fighting fire with fire.
5Harvey Milk was gonna fight fire with fire.
fighting
/ˈfaɪtɪŋ/
noun
involvement in a physical struggle against another person or group
Click to see examples

Examples

1More viscerally, fighting is exciting to humans.
2Go down fighting.
3Fighting is very much like dancing.
4On August the 29th, fighting began.
5Fighting is all about skill.
to fight out
/fˈaɪt ˈaʊt/
verb
to fight until a result is achieved or an agreement is reached

Examples

to fight one's own battles
/fˈaɪt wˈʌnz ˈoʊn bˈæɾəlz/
phrase
to fight for what one wants or win an argument without the help of someone else
Click to see examples

Examples

1- Everyone is fighting their own battles. -
2It was then that I realized that I had to fight my own battles.
3Adults fight their own battles.
flap
/ˈfɫæp/
noun
much public anger or discussion
Click to see examples

Examples

1For example, in the airplane I fly we have flaps one, five, 10, 15, 25, 30 and 40.
2Flap your paddle gearbox into manual.
3the tongue just flaps there.
4The over-protective aunt flaps her ears.
5Fly wings flap forward and back.
fracas
/ˈfɹeɪkəs/
noun
a noisy fight or argument, which usually a lot of people take part in
Click to see examples

Examples

1And there was a fracas, in which Captain Cook was killed by at least one Hawaiian.
2So the fracas spilled out from Sal's pizzeria to the street.
3I call them fragilista, someone who denies the anti-fragility of things and fracases by the denial.
4Don't try to involve us in your fracas.
5But the episode with the Basque is over, and the fracas with the Yanguesans doesn't come until five chapters later, after the Grisóstomo and Marcela interlude.
fray
/ˈfɹeɪ/
noun
an intense argument, fight, or contest
Click to see examples

Examples

1The chromosomes fray out back into chromatin.
2The rise of automation and nationalism was fraying the continent at the edges.
3A new robot is entering the fray.
4And the edges fray really beautifully.
5In their place, two new families joined the fray: the McGees and the Winders.
free-for-all
/ˈfɹifɔˌɹɔɫ/
noun
a loud argument or fight that many people take part in
Click to see examples

Examples

1While a pirate was a criminal who operated mostly on a free-for-all basis and attacked whatever ship caught his fancy, a privateer was more like a private contractor under the service of his government during wartime.
2like I just said and every single week, this free-for-all calendar of hours would open up.
3It's a free-for-all.
4It was a free-for-all.
5So in principle, it's free-for-all.
frenemy
/fɹˈɛnəmi/
noun
a person who pretends to be a friend when in reality is one's rival or enemy
Click to see examples

Examples

1Talk about a frenemy.
2Do people still say 'frenemy?'
3And the frenemy of relationship continues.
4Ghana is like their closest frenemy.
5What is a frenemy?
friction
/ˈfɹɪkʃən/
noun
absence of agreement or friendliness between people with different opinions
Click to see examples

Examples

1An example of a non-conservative force is friction.
2Friction exerts a force in the direction opposite of the motion.
3Rain, snow, and ice significantly reduce friction.
4Hair also reduces friction.
5We hate friction.
gap
/ˈɡæp/
noun
a difference, particularly an unwanted one, causing separation between two people, situations, or opinions
Click to see examples

Examples

1Nature doesn't like gaps.
2So, avoid gaps in care.
3Stop gaps or otherwise.
4So gaps don't invalidate candles.
5Kinked rail, gap out rail, step up right here.
go-around
/ɡˌoʊɐɹˈaʊnd/
noun
an argument or disagreement
Click to see examples

Examples

1He truly believed he was meant to come into the world with the comet, and to then leave it on the next go-around.
2But, when a gust of wind comes at the wrong time, it will cause the pilot to execute a go-around instead of landing.
3Well, I guess so much for our go-around.
4She would later return to Disney/Pixar for another go-around as Elastigirl in the 2018 sequel to 2004’s
5But I love it, he's been playing more gruesome this go-around of it.
to go / be (at it / ) hammer and tongs
/ɡˌoʊ æt ɪt hˈæmɚ ænd tˈɑːŋz/
phrase
to engage in an activity, particularly an argument, in a forceful, energetic, or violent manner

Examples

to go to the mat
/ɡˌoʊ tə ðə mˈæt/
phrase
to support someone or something in an argument with another person
Click to see examples

Examples

1And McConnell's willingness to go to the mat for judicial appointments, was perhaps never more obvious than during the Kavanaugh hearings.
2I went to the mat for that joke, and I think we'll agree I was right and you were wrong!
3What is the pettiest thing you've ever seen someone go to the mat for?
4But as it turns out, one defendant is willing to you go to the mat against Sidney Powell.
5You're probably not gonna take a lot of these things to trial, you're probably not gonna go to the mat on a lot of these cases, but you're going to plead, you're gonna give these people the best defense you possibly can, even if that results in guilty pleas down the line.
gridlock
/ˈɡɹɪdˌɫɑk/
noun
(usually in politics) a situation in which no progress can be made because the people involved are unable to agree with one another
Click to see examples

Examples

1Once the particles/cars reach a critical density, gridlock happens.
2We use the word gridlock over and over again.
3Now we're overcoming gridlock.
4You have to gridlock this.
5This policy is causing gridlock.
to haggle
/ˈhæɡəɫ/
verb
to argue in order to reach an agreement, particularly over the price of something
Click to see examples

Examples

1I haggled.
2You haggle.
3They're haggling about the price.
4And then they haggle again.
5And then they haggle over the collateral.
to happen
/ˈhæpən/
verb
used to state that one disagrees with someone or is annoyed by what they have said
Click to see examples

Examples

1If this necrosis, or tissue death, happens after a sting, permanent scars may remain on a victim's skin.
2When the fire happened, didn't the firefighters come?
3But, crucially, the company needs to answer for what happened here.
4Criminal crimes happen a lot in video games, but some video game companies have taken the bold step of flouting the law themselves.
5Pollen is moved from the male part of a flower to the female part of a flower, then fertilisation can happen causing fruit to grow.
to harrumph
/hˈæɹʌmf/
verb
‌to express disapproval of something by making a noise in the throat

Examples

hassle
/ˈhæsəɫ/
noun
a dispute or disagreement between people
Click to see examples

Examples

1For my husband and me, the benefits just didn't outweigh the hassle.
2Then tie the hassles around the knot.
3A lot less hassle than having to ship if off somewhere.
4This simple trick will save you so much hassle.
5Sheet pan pork chops and sweet potatoes Sheet pan meals are hassle free.
to have
/ˈhæv/
verb
to make someone be at a position of disadvantage in an argument
Click to see examples

Examples

1The arrangement had mutual benefits for the public and the museum.
2Apparently, the human nose has about one thousand different types of olfactory neurons.
3One clan in the USA - Clan Donald - has 4,000 families.
4Another brilliant physicist, Alexander Friedmann, had also reached the same conclusion.
5The city has a massive migrant workforce.
to have a problem with sb/sth
/hæv ɐ pɹˈɑːbləm wɪð ˌɛsbˈiː slˈæʃ ˌɛstˌiːˈeɪtʃ/
phrase
to not to be able to approve or accept someone or something
Click to see examples

Examples

1But I'm so used to reading captions that I'm such a fast reader that I don't really have a problem with captions going too fast.
2But I'm so used to reading captions that I'm such a fast reader that I don't really have a problem with captions going too fast.
3And both of these years, I was hoping that after year one, we wouldn't have a problem with year two.
4And both of these years, I was hoping that after year one, we wouldn't have a problem with year two.
5As you may or may not have noticed if you are a caption user like me, if you're deaf, got APD, whatever, we're having a problem with captions.
to have words
/hæv wˈɜːdz/
verb
to argue with someone

Examples

to have it out with sb
/hæv ɪt ˈaʊt/
phrase
to talk to someone frankly in order to settle a dispute or argument
Click to see examples

Examples

1So it can give the money directly to the U.S. Treasury, and then the U.S. Treasury will give them one of these IOUs, or it could buy it from someone already has it out in the open market.
2Just having it out.
3and then I'm going to attempt just that, to hold it from one end and have it out horizontally.
4Maybe it says that your boss has it out for you.
5And just to have it out there is awesome.
have it your (own / ) way
/hæv ɪt jʊɹ ˈoʊn wˈeɪ/
sentence
used to angrily state that despite one's disagreement with what someone has said, one will not argue about it

Examples

to egg
/ˈɛɡ/
verb
to throw eggs at a person or thing, often to express contempt
Click to see examples

Examples

1And only happy hens lay eggs.
2Do eggs help your throat?
3Egg wash this guy.
4Eggs Most people already have eggs as a part of their daily breakfast and for good reasons.
5Well eggs have another special nutrient.

Great!

You've reviewed all the words in this lesson!