bickering
pronunciation
How to pronounce bickering in British English:
UK ['bɪkərɪŋ]
How to pronounce bickering in American English:
US ['bɪkərɪŋ]
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- Noun:
- a quarrel about petty points
Word Origin
- bickering (n.)
- c. 1300, "a skirmish," from bicker (v.). Meaning "a verbal wrangle" is from 1570s.
- bickering (adj.)
- 1808 in the sense of "contentious," present participle adjective from bicker (v.). Earlier it was used to mean "flashing, quivering" (1660s).
Example
- 1. Mounting panic led to open bickering and backstabbing .
- 2. Years of bureaucratic bickering set things badly behind .
- 3. Mr flaherty said these transfers would end bickering between ottawa and the provinces .
- 4. Earlier a ramshackle mission to syria by the arab league had ended in bickering .
- 5. Observers once assumed the two parties were fated to simulate agreement in public while bickering in private .