Altercate

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈɔːltəkeɪt/

Definitions

1. To engage in heated argument or dispute with another person
2. to engage in a heated and contentious quarrel or dispute with someone
3. to argue vehemently and heatedly with another party in a confrontational manner

Etymology: The verb "altercate" comes straight from Latin "altercari," meaning to wrangle or dispute, and it is a close relative of the word "alter." Latin "alter" meant "the other of two," so the core idea sits in a pair: one party facing another, each insisting on a position. The Latin verb "altercari" was built from "alter" plus a suffix that turns a noun into a verb, so an argument was, at root, a quarrel between "the one" and "the other." English borrowed the verb directly from Latin "altercor," the deponent form that carries the same sense of disputing. The word preserves the Latin shape almost unchanged, which is why it looks more formal than its everyday meaning suggests. Its vocabulary family includes "altercation," the noun for the quarrel itself.

Synonyms: argue, dispute, quarrel, debate, wrangle

Antonyms: agree, concur, settle, reconcile, compromise