Quarrelled

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. A disagreement unfolded involving contentious exchanges or disputes between parties, leading to varying opinions and conflicts arising among individuals
2. Engaged in a heated disagreement marked by sharp words and conflicting views
3. Participated in a verbal dispute characterized by anger and opposition

Etymology: The verb "quarrel" is itself two different words that happened to merge. The sense of a bitter dispute comes from Latin "querela," a complaint or lament, built on "queri," "to complain," which sounds like it has nothing to do with the crossbow sense of the same spelling. That second meaning is the one that came from a square. In Late Latin, "quadrellus" meant a square-headed bolt or a square paving tile, from Latin "quadrum," a square, and by the Middle English period "quarrel" meant a crossbow bolt. The dispute sense reached English from Anglo-Norman and Middle French "querele," and in Middle English "querelen" appeared as a verb meaning to dispute or to rebel. Its legal and armed-combat senses in the older source show how wide the word once was, covering everything from a lawsuit to a duel. "Quarrelled" is the simple past and past participle of this verb. The doubled "l" follows British spelling; American English usually writes "quarreled."

Synonyms: argued, disputed, bickered, debated, fell out

Antonyms: reconciled, agreed, harmonized, settled, complied