brawl

brawl n Brawl, broil, fracas, melee, row, rumpus, scrap are comparable when meaning a noisy fight or quarrel.

Brawl implies angry contentions, blows, and a noisy racket; it usually suggests participation by several persons

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a family brawl that kept the neighbors awake

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street brawls

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a howling brawl amongst vicious hoodlums— Stafford

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Broil stresses disorder, confusion, and turmoil among the combatants more than the disturbance they cause others. The term may be used contemptuously in place of war, conflict, or controversy

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plunging us in all the broils of the European nations— Jefferson

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but it is more often used of a violent fight or quarrel where the issues are not clear or significant or where the opposing parties are not clearly distinguished

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but village mirth breeds contests, broils, and blows— Shelley

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Fracas is applicable to a noisy quarrel or excited disturbance whether leading to blows or not; the term does not suggest as much vulgarity or as many participants as brawl, but it may imply as much noise and excitement

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they were hot-tempered, frequently embroiled in quarrels. John Adams, after such a fracas, listed his new enemies in his diary—C. D. Bowen

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Melee is applied to a more or less disorganized hand-to-hand conflict or to a dispute which resembles such a combat. In many instances the emphasis is so strongly on confusion and mix-up that the implication of combat or contention is weakened or lost

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the calmness of the platform was transformed into a melee. Little Constance found herself left on the fringe of a physically agitated crowd which was apparently trying to scale a precipice surmounted by windows and doors— Bennett

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Row is applicable to a demonstration or fight, whether a quarrel, a squabble, or a dispute, that is so public or so noisy as to attract attention

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during the recent row over atomic-energy legislation their feuding was epic— Friendly

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Rumpus suggests even greater agitation and disturbance than row, for it usually connotes an uproar

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you incur my serious displeasure if you move one inch in this contemptible rumpus— Scott

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Scrap usually suggests a physical tussle but often implies little more than a noisy, sharp quarrel

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the boys are good friends, but they have many a scrap

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Analogous words: conflict, fight, fray, affray (see CONTEST): contention, dissension, strife, *discord: wrangle, altercation, *quarrel, squabble: uproar, racket, *din, hubbub, clamor