skirmish
Small-scale military encounter
A skirmish is a brief, limited fight—smaller and less decisive than a battle.
Military skirmishes involve small groups rather than main forces: Border skirmishes continued throughout the ceasefire.
The word extends to minor conflicts or disputes: a skirmish over budget allocations, verbal skirmishes between the candidates.
To skirmish is to engage in such fighting.
Armed military engagement
- meleeDisordered group skirmish
- frayFight or unravel
- scuffleBrief disorderly struggle
- brawlDisorderly group fight
tussle · clash · confrontation · affray · fracas · altercation · struggle · encounter
Exchange of gunfire
- ambushSurprise strike from concealment
- engagementCommitment to wed or attend
- raidSudden armed incursion
- incursionHostile territorial penetration
patrol · guerrilla · flanking · counterattack · reconnaissance · assault · maneuver · advance
Reasoned case or dispute
- quarrelAngry verbal dispute
- spatPetty verbal dispute
- tiffMinor interpersonal dispute
- disagreementAbsence of shared opinion
clash · run-in · contention · squabble · feud · bickering · wrangle · friction
battle
Armed military engagement
brawl · tussle · clash · confrontation · affray · fracas · altercation · struggle · encounter · fisticuffs
firefight
Exchange of gunfire
- ambushSurprise strike from concealment
- engagementCommitment to wed or attend
- raidSudden armed incursion
incursion · patrol · guerrilla · flanking · counterattack · reconnaissance · assault · maneuver · advance · retreat
argument
Reasoned case or dispute
disagreement · clash · run-in · contention · squabble · feud · bickering · wrangle · friction · face-off
match
Game between opponents
- boutLimited stretch of something
- contestOrganized competitive event
- face-offDirect clash between opponents
showdown · duel · sparring · exhibition · warm-up · practice · preseason · friendly · preliminary · tune-up
prelude
Introductory piece or event
early · minor · brief · small-scale · limited · isolated · sporadic · intermittent · border · probing
- BattlesAntietam, Leipzig, Gettysburg, Waterloo, Bunker Hill
- War of 1812War of 1812, Andrew Jackson, Battle of New Orleans, Fort McHenry, Lake Erie
- infantry tacticsfire and maneuver, flanking maneuver, battle drills, defensive positions, ambush tactics
- conflictclash, fight, war, battle, dispute
- warfarebattle, combat, attack, war, armed conflict
- clashesconflict, confrontation, collision, fight, battle
skirmishwar
Armed struggle between groups
siege · total war · campaign · pitched battle · theater of war
skirmishsurrender
Cease resistance, yield
capitulation · peace treaty · truce · peace agreement · laying down arms
- border skirmishesSmall fights at boundaries
- border skirmishMinor fight at boundary
- military skirmishBrief armed engagement, limited scale
- skirmish lineExtended infantry formation
- military skirmishesBrief armed engagements
skirmishing, skirmishes, skirmished, skirmisher, skirmishers