fighting like cats and dogs
Feuding without pause
Fighting like cats and dogs describes constant, vigorous quarreling—the kind of persistent bickering associated with siblings or longtime couples: My parents have been fighting like cats and dogs for forty years.
The image comes from the supposed natural enmity between the two animals, though actual cats and dogs often coexist peacefully.
- enmityBitter, lasting ill will
- butting headsConflicting through stubbornness
- argumentReasoned case or dispute
- heated argumentIntense verbal conflict
- war of wordsProlonged public argument
at each other's throats · friction · oil and water · feud · family feud · clash · loggerheads · quarrel · bad blood · rivalry · strife · discord · animosity · incompatibility · disharmony · disagreement · brawl · squabbling
fighting like cats and dogsthick as thieves
Intimately allied and loyal
two peas in a pod · bosom buddies · inseparable · harmonious · amicable
fighting like cats and dogsjoined at the hip
Extremely close, always together
hand in hand · cooperating · collaborating · united · pulling together
fighting like cats and dogspeaceful coexistence
Non-hostile international relations
in accord · at peace · copacetic · smooth sailing · seeing eye to eye
fights, fighter, fighters, fighting, likeness, unlike, unlikely, likeliest, likelihood