as in skirmishes
a physical dispute between opposing individuals or groups
a small tussle on the basketball court was quickly broken up
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in wrestles
to seize and attempt to unbalance one another for the purpose of achieving physical mastery
puppies tussling with one another, rolling over and over on the carpet
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of tussles
Alphonse Pierre,
Pitchfork,
26 June 2026
The legal tussles boil down to whether the federal government or the states have primary authority to oversee prediction markets, which allow users to bet on the outcome of sports, elections and many other events.
—
Mary Cunningham,
CBS News,
24 June 2026
Roaring and grunting, his body sleek with blood and sweat, Conan tussles and grapples with a series of opponents, dominating them all, while an audience of torch-wielding vulgarians shouts and howls at the pit’s lip.
—
Naomi Fry,
New Yorker,
15 June 2026
That Jonas is, himself, a former boy band star who has at times gone it alone, lends the movie a direct connection to contemporary music, where tussles over authorship are increasingly common.
—
ABC News,
3 June 2026
Lily and the other sheep encounter some scary dogs one night, and there are a few tussles between both human and animal characters.
—
Patrick Ryan,
USA Today,
8 May 2026
In later years Coe had serious tussles with the IRS, causing debt, bankruptcy and the lost of publishing rights to even his biggest hits.
—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
30 Apr. 2026
There hasn’t been that kind of bad blood that has leaked out in the Canadiens-Lightning and Flyers-Penguins tussles.
—
Chris Johnston,
New York Times,
25 Apr. 2026
After Dobbins was shelved before Week 11, the Broncos still had seven more regular-season games on the fight card and two more postseason tussles — and would’ve been three if Nix had been healthy.
—
Sean Keeler,
Denver Post,
10 Mar. 2026
Noun
As his tussles with grief and sobriety and heartbreak appear in flashes, so do red and blue police lights.
—
Alphonse Pierre,
Pitchfork,
26 June 2026
The legal tussles boil down to whether the federal government or the states have primary authority to oversee prediction markets, which allow users to bet on the outcome of sports, elections and many other events.
—
Mary Cunningham,
CBS News,
24 June 2026
Roaring and grunting, his body sleek with blood and sweat, Conan tussles and grapples with a series of opponents, dominating them all, while an audience of torch-wielding vulgarians shouts and howls at the pit’s lip.
—
Naomi Fry,
New Yorker,
15 June 2026
That Jonas is, himself, a former boy band star who has at times gone it alone, lends the movie a direct connection to contemporary music, where tussles over authorship are increasingly common.
—
ABC News,
3 June 2026
Lily and the other sheep encounter some scary dogs one night, and there are a few tussles between both human and animal characters.
—
Patrick Ryan,
USA Today,
8 May 2026
In later years Coe had serious tussles with the IRS, causing debt, bankruptcy and the lost of publishing rights to even his biggest hits.
—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
30 Apr. 2026
There hasn’t been that kind of bad blood that has leaked out in the Canadiens-Lightning and Flyers-Penguins tussles.
—
Chris Johnston,
New York Times,
25 Apr. 2026
After Dobbins was shelved before Week 11, the Broncos still had seven more regular-season games on the fight card and two more postseason tussles — and would’ve been three if Nix had been healthy.
—
Sean Keeler,
Denver Post,
10 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tussles
Noun
-
Johnson brushes off the skirmishes, broadly speaking, as part of the governing process.
-
While the war ended years before, the hostility spread from the stands — with skirmishes among supporters — into the field, when Maradona tricked the referee and the world with the World Cup’s most infamous goal, punching the ball into the net with his fist above England’s goalie Peter Shilton.
Verb
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Francis also wrestles occasionally for Boca Raton Championship Wrestling in South Florida and competed prior for Coastal Championship Wrestling in South and Central Florida.
-
The officer then wrestles the woman to the ground.
Noun
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But occasionally there can be personality clashes or people who other people on the trip find annoying.
-
Sistan-Baluchistan, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, has long seen clashes between security forces, insurgents and drug smugglers.
Verb
-
Agamemnon is the commander of the Greek army that fights the Trojan War for the recovery of Menelaus’s wife, Helen.
-
What fights an itch depends on its cause and there's a need for better treatments.
Noun
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On Friday, Putin visited the Russian military headquarters directing the action in Ukraine to receive a report on the capture of the city of Kostyantynivka after weeks of intense street battles.
-
Legal battles can discourage farmers Mora said the years-long litigation has left him feeling frustrated and defenseless.
Cite this Entry
“Tussles.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tussles. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.
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