dispute

American  

[dih-spyoot] / dɪˈspjut /

verb (used without object)

disputes, present (3rd person singular) disputed, past participle, past disputing present participle

1. to engage in argument or debate.

   She liked nothing more than to dispute with her fellow law students.

2. to argue vehemently; wrangle or quarrel.

   Those two are always disputing about something or other.

   Synonyms:

   squabble, bicker

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verb (used with object)

disputes, present (3rd person singular) disputed, past participle, past disputing present participle

1. to argue or debate about; discuss.

   Whether excessive time spent on the internet can be called an addiction is hotly disputed.

2. to argue against; call into question.

   Historians dispute this claim, suggesting Raleigh could not possibly have discovered the potato in the places he visited.

3. to quarrel or fight about; contest.

   We stopped to watch a puffed-up crow disputing territory with a cat.

4. Archaic. to strive against; oppose.

   to dispute an advance of troops.

noun

disputes plural

1. a debate, controversy, or difference of opinion.

   Players were elated when the equal pay dispute was finally resolved.

2. a wrangling argument; quarrel.

   Some women at the end of the bar were having a noisy dispute about who should be the designated driver.

   Synonyms:

   bickering, squabble, wrangle, altercation, disputation

idioms

1. in dispute,

   1. being fought or argued over; debated or contested; unresolved.

      The authorship of the recently discovered text is in dispute.

      Both countries argue that the territories in dispute originally belonged to them.

   2. engaged in an argument or disagreement.

      The program enables parties in dispute to settle their differences over the internet without face-to-face mediation.

dispute British  

verb

1. to argue, debate, or quarrel about (something)

2. (tr; may take a clause as object) to doubt the validity, etc, of

3. (tr) to seek to win; contest for

4. (tr) to struggle against; resist

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noun

1. an argument or quarrel

dispute More Idioms  

1. see in dispute.

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Synonym Usage

See argument.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• disputer
  noun
• predispute
  noun
• redispute
  verb
• disputeless
  adjective
• undisputing
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• disputes
  plural

Participles

• disputing
  present
• disputed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• dispute
  simple
• disputes
  simple
• have disputed
  perfect
• has disputed
  perfect
• am disputing
  progressive
• are disputing
  progressive
• is disputing
  progressive
• have been disputing
  perfect progressive
• has been disputing
  perfect progressive

Past

• disputed
  simple
• had disputed
  perfect
• was disputing
  progressive
• were disputing
  progressive
• had been disputing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will dispute
  simple
• will have disputed
  perfect
• will be disputing
  progressive
• will have been disputing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of dispute

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English verb disputen, dispuiten, desputen, either from Anglo-French, Old French desputer or directly from Latin disputāre “to argue a point,” equivalent to dis- dis- ¹ + putāre “to reckon, consider”; noun derivative of the verb; see putative

Explanation

If kids can't settle their own argument, they may need someone to mediate their dispute, or conflict. You can often tell this is the case if you hear the loud cry, "Mom!" The noun dispute means any conflict or disagreement. The countries were in the middle of a border dispute; both sides claimed the toxic waste dump belonged to the other. As a verb, dispute can mean to quarrel or argue, but it can also mean to take exception to something. If your boasting friend crows because you lost the trivia game to her by 150 points, you may want to dispute the facts. It was only 145 points.

Example Sentences

The UN maritime agency said an evacuation operation had freed 115 vessels and 2,500 seafarers trapped by the dispute before the attack forced its suspension.

From Barron's • Jun. 26, 2026

The dispute was never simply what “arrives in” means in the abstract but what Congress intended that phrase to accomplish within a statutory scheme governing inspection, admission, and asylum.

From Slate • Jun. 26, 2026

His ongoing dispute with a folding bicycle and a long-running complaint about the behavior of the upstairs neighbors are, though they make for some very funny interludes, symptomatic of entrenched unhappiness.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 25, 2026

Representatives from the BMA will go to Stormont on Thursday where they will meet with the chair and deputy chair of the assembly's health committee to discuss the pay dispute.

From BBC • Jun. 24, 2026

He used to challenge me to a game whenever he wanted to settle an argument or some asinine pop-culture dispute.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

Related Words

• bickering
• brawl
• conflict
• controversy
• debate
• disagreement
• discord
• discussion
• disturbance
• feud
• friction
• misunderstanding
• quarrel
• row
• squabble
• strife
• wrangle