bicker

¹ American  

[bik-er] / ˈbɪk ər /

verb (used without object)

1. to engage in petulant or peevish argument; wrangle.

   The two were always bickering.

   Synonyms:

   spat, disagreement, argument, spat, spar, dispute, haggle, quarrel, argue, squabble, disagree

2. Literary. to rush or make a rushing sound, as water.

   We first heard and then saw the stream bickering down the valley.

3. to flicker; glitter.

   The sun bickered through the trees.

---

noun

1. an angry, petty dispute or quarrel; altercation.

bicker ² American  

[bik-er] / ˈbɪk ər /

noun

Scot.

1. any wooden dish or bowl, especially a wooden porridge bowl.

2. Obsolete. a wooden drinking cup.

---

bicker British  

/ ˈbɪkə /

verb

1. to argue over petty matters; squabble

2. poetic

   1. (esp of a stream) to run quickly

   2. to flicker; glitter

---

noun

1. a petty squabble

Other Word Forms

• bickerer noun
• bickering noun
• unbickered adjective

Etymology

Origin of bicker¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English bikeren; origin unknown

Origin of bicker²

1300–50; Middle English biker beaker

Example Sentences

When his daughters bickered in the past, he’d want to “give them advice or de-escalate their conflict.”

From The Wall Street Journal

But they can still take steps to reduce tension when older couples bicker about money.

From MarketWatch

Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel has Dr. Frankenstein bicker with his creature about her potential existence before deciding against it in fear that “she might become ten thousand times more malignant than her mate.”

From Los Angeles Times

Somewhere in between the teasing and the bickering, I’d come to think of him as more than a mandatory partner.

From Literature

After some long-winded bickering between the two camps, the fighters - relatively restrained until that point - finally sparked into life.

From BBC

Related Words

• disagree
• quarrel
• quibble
• spar
• squabble
• wrangle