skirmish
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
noun
-
a minor short-lived military engagement
-
any brisk clash or encounter, usually of a minor nature
verb
Synonym Usage
See battle 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
skirmishsimple
-
skirmishessimple
-
have skirmishedperfect
-
has skirmishedperfect
-
am skirmishingprogressive
-
are skirmishingprogressive
-
is skirmishingprogressive
-
have been skirmishingperfect progressive
-
has been skirmishingperfect progressive
Past
-
skirmishedsimple
-
had skirmishedperfect
-
was skirmishingprogressive
-
were skirmishingprogressive
-
had been skirmishingperfect progressive
Future
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.
See Examples For:
The skirmish was the latest in a string of incidents that has tested the two-month-old ceasefire.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
According to him the war in Lebanon is "a separate skirmish".
From BBC ● Apr. 9, 2026
That adjective would not apply to a public skirmish between the president of the university and the consultant that conducted the study commissioned by the university.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 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
From the tavern-keeper he learned for the first time what had happened after the skirmish at Lexington.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
The book ends with a few skirmishes during the Reagan administration, including when U.S.
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026
New enthusiasm for the AI trade has helped boost stocks to repeated records in recent weeks, even as skirmishes persist in the Middle East, keeping oil prices volatile.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
New skirmishes in the region are hampering cease-fire talks, and highlight that safety — and million-dollar insurance rates per ship — are the top calculations that ship owners will be making.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 1, 2026
To Anandarangam, the skirmishes risk swallowing the story and drawing attention away from the conditions for detainees in the facility.
From Slate ● May 29, 2026
Did I ever you tell you about any of my skirmishes while I was in Vietnam?”
From "Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" by Benjamin Alire Saenz
He skirmished with health department officials and at times the White House, where some came to regard him as a rogue agent, the Journal previously reported.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026
Hezbollah and Israel have skirmished along the tense Lebanon-Israel border.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 26, 2023
Riordan understood what our erstwhile owners did not: We had all skirmished in the arena, but there was no reason we couldn’t celebrate the important role of an independent media.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2023
Both empires had ambitions to expand their influence, and they regularly skirmished with one another and attempted to meddle in each other’s politics, including by supporting rival claimants to the throne.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
The last time she skirmished with Alexandra was when her brother died.
From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee
By this March, however, the Lebanese army had pulled out, and Hezbollah had returned, skirmishing with Israeli forces when they entered southern Lebanon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
Amid the legal skirmishing, news of the indictment was a relief to the victim jewelers, at least eight of whom are based in L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2025
Black does well in the early skirmishing in this Four Knights Game, but fails to respond adequately when Kupchik opens up the play in the center.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 11, 2023
The skirmishing for influence has reached almost comical proportions.
From New York Times ● Jul. 7, 2023
After riding Sunshine, a group of us played at Civil War games, enacting the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, skirmishing with wooden swords and firing log cannons.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
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.
