noun
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a minor short-lived military engagement
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any brisk clash or encounter, usually of a minor nature
verb
Synonym Usage
See battle 1.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of skirmish
1300–50; (noun) Middle English skirmysshe < Old French eskirmiss-, long stem of eskirmir < Germanic (compare Old High German skirman ); replacing Middle English scarmouche < Old French escaramoucher ( see Scaramouch); (v.) late Middle English scarmuchen, scarmusshen to skirmish, Middle English skirmisshen to brandish a weapon < Old French escar ( a ) mucher to skirmish; vowels influenced by Old French eskirmiss-
Explanation
A skirmish is a small fight — more a dust-up than a full-out battle — and it can refer to a physical fight or just a battle of words. It is definitely confrontational, though. Think of a skirmish as kind of a mini-battle, although a military skirmish can end with casualties. Still, although such an encounter can be serious, even the very word skirmish sounds slight, like a stirring of dust in the breeze. Shakespeare referred to the combative nature of his characters Beatrice and Benedick, in "Much Ado About Nothing," as "a kind of merry war betwixt Signior Benedick and her: they never meet but there's a skirmish of wit between them."
Vocabulary lists containing skirmish
Much Ado About Nothing
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This Week In Words: August 30–September 4, 2020
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My Brother Sam is Dead
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
According to him the war in Lebanon is "a separate skirmish".
From BBC • Apr. 9, 2026
This being “Primal,” they’re set upon by a group of diminutive flesh-eaters with jagged teeth, igniting a life-or-death skirmish that, miraculously, steals the viewer’s breath.
From Salon • Feb. 1, 2026
Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said the post-game skirmish was the result of lax officiating.
From Barron's • Jan. 28, 2026
Capt. Williams’s skirmish is a reminder that the U.S. and the Soviets did a fair bit of fighting without ending up in an apocalyptic conflict.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 22, 2025
Perhaps the ogres will raid and there will be a skirmish.
From "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
