Synonyms
Noun (3)
- altercation
- argle-bargle [chiefly British]
- argument
- argy-bargy [chiefly British]
- battle royal
- bicker
- brawl
- contretemps
- controversy
- cross fire
- disagreement
- dispute
- donnybrook
- falling-out
- fight
- hassle
- imbroglio
- kickup
- misunderstanding
- quarrel
- rhubarb
- row
- scrap
- set-to
- squabble
- tiff
- wrangle
Verb
Examples of spat in a Sentence
Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald, 8 Apr. 2024
The spat – which underscores the deep tensions undergirding the relationship between Asia’s two largest countries – comes as India is weeks away from national elections expected to deliver a resounding endorsement of Modi’s Hindu nationalist platform.
—Simone McCarthy, CNN, 22 Mar. 2024
Their romance might have been the plot of an MGM musical of the ’40s, with spats, breakups, reconciliations and plenty of songs.
—Robert D. McFadden, New York Times, 7 Mar. 2024
The spat between the theme park and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis began in March 2022, after Disney’s then-CEO Bob Chapek spoke out against a bill restricting certain LGBTQ topics in the classroom.
—Alexandra Banner, CNN, 28 Mar. 2024
The letter is a significant escalation in tensions between companies leveraging AI and creators, with the music industry now coalescing around the technology following a wave of individual spats.
—Ryan Hogg, Fortune Europe, 18 Mar. 2024
Three months later, his business manager, George Ullman, put Valentino’s possessions up for public sale—not only his speedboat, his onyx pocket watch, and his black velvet riding habit but also his spats and silk underwear and a hundred and forty-six pairs of his socks.
—Rachel Monroe, The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2024
The spat escalated into Blunt calling Gosling out for having to have his abs painted on, which struck a deeper chord than any other shots that were fired.
—Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 10 Mar. 2024
Klinsmann was already under heavy criticism after South Korea’s upset 2-0 semifinal loss to Jordan last week and pressure intensified following media reports of a spat between captain Son Heung-min and young star Lee Kang-in during the tournament.
—John Duerden, USA TODAY, 16 Feb. 2024
Julia Frankel The Associated Press, Arkansas Online, 5 Oct. 2023
The one charged with assault spat on a person, while the others spat towards people, police said to explain the different charges.
—Kareem Khadder, CNN, 4 Oct. 2023
The teenager first asked the hotel to forgive him, the lawsuit said, but soon flew into a rage, screaming that the hotel was antisemitic and that its employees spat in people’s food.
—Liam Stack, BostonGlobe.com, 14 Aug. 2023
South Carolina was on the east bank and Georgia on the west; the temperature was in the fifties, and gray clouds spat water in our faces.
—Matthew Hutson, The New Yorker, 21 July 2023
Beyoncé just as effectively snarled and spat, working her voice into a throaty rasp or frantic lather that implied serious consequences for challengers and haters.
—Bob Gendron, Chicago Tribune, 23 July 2023
But in the process of escalating it from thousands of spat at a time to hundreds of thousands spat at a time to millions of spat at a time, this is a big step.
—Lawrence Specker | Lspecker@al.com, al, 2 June 2023
The driver screamed the n-word continually at her and one of the passengers spat on her and her car.
—Selena Barrientos, Good Housekeeping, 21 July 2020
Capitalism devoured America from the inside out and then spat out the bones.
—Sarah Jones, Vulture, 25 Mar. 2021
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'spat.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Noun (1)
origin unknown
Noun (2)
short for spatterdash legging
Noun (3)
origin unknown
Noun (1)
1667, in the meaning defined above
Noun (2)
circa 1802, in the meaning defined above
Noun (3)
1729, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Verb
circa 1832, in the meaning defined at transitive sense
Articles Related to spat
Dictionary Entries Near spat
Cite this Entry
“Spat.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spat. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
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Kids Definition
spat
2 of 5 nounspat
3 of 5 nounspat
4 of 5 nounspat
5 of 5 verbNoun
origin unknown
Noun
a shortened form of spatterdash "a protective covering for the ankle or leg"
Medical Definition
spat
past and past part of spit
More from Merriam-Webster on spat
Nglish: Translation of spat for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of spat for Arabic Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about spat
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