Alternative forms
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Etymology
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From Middle English skirmish (as a verb), from Old French escarmouche (“skirmish”), from Italian scaramuccia, earlier schermugio. Doublet of escarmouche and Scaramouche.
Pronunciation
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skirmish (plural skirmishes)
- (military) A brief battle between small groups, usually part of a longer or larger battle or war.
1970 April 28, “Chen Pao Battle and Subsequent Threat Campaign”, in The Evolution of Soviet Policy in the Sino-Soviet Border Dispute[1], Directorate of Intelligence, published 2007, →OCLC, page 34:On 2 March, Chinese border guards with the help of regular PLA forces skillfully ambushed Strelnikov's unit on the ice near Chen Pao, killing him and 30 Soviets in the subsequent skirmish.
- (figuratively, by extension) Any minor dispute.
Three people were arrested after a skirmish in a bar.
- A type of outdoor military style game using paintball or similar weapons.
Synonyms
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Related terms
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Translations
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brief battle between small groups
- Albanian: please add this translation if you can
- Armenian: please add this translation if you can
- Azerbaijani: toqquşma (az)
- Belarusian: суты́чка f (sutýčka), схва́тка f (sxvátka), бо́йка f (bójka), перастрэ́лка f (pjerastrélka) (with shooting)
- Bulgarian: схва́тка (bg) f (shvátka)
- Catalan: escaramussa f
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 小衝突/小冲突 (siu2 cong1 dak6)
- Mandarin: 小衝突/小冲突 (zh) (xiǎo chōngtū), 衝突/冲突 (zh) (chōngtū, chōngtú)
- Czech: půtka (cs) f, šarvátka f
- Danish: skærmydsel (da) c
- Dutch: schermutseling (nl) f
- Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
- Estonian: jagelus
- Finnish: kahakka (fi), välikohtaus (fi), yhteenotto (fi), rytäkkä, kahina (fi), kahnaus
- French: escarmouche (fr) f, échauffourée (fr) f
- Middle French: escarmouche f
- Old French: escharmuche f
- Galician: escaramuza (gl) f
- Georgian: please add this translation if you can
- German: Scharmützel (de) n, Geplänkel (de) n
- Hindi: झड़प (hi) f (jhaṛap)
- Hungarian: please add this translation if you can
- Italian: schermaglia (it) f, scaramuccia (it) f
- Japanese: 小競り合い (ja) (kozeriai)
- Latin: praecursiō (la) f
- Latvian: please add this translation if you can
- Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
- Macedonian: пре́сметка f (présmetka), пре́стрелка f (préstrelka) (with shooting)
- Maori: riringa, kekeritanga, taute
- Polish: potyczka (pl) f
- Portuguese: escaramuça (pt) f
- Romanian: please add this translation if you can
- Russian: сты́чка (ru) f (stýčka), схва́тка (ru) f (sxvátka), перестре́лка (ru) f (perestrélka) (with shooting)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: ча̑рка f
- Roman: čȃrka (sh) f
- Spanish: escaramuza (es) f, (Latin America) enfrentamiento (es), refriega (es)
- Swedish: skärmytsling (sv) c
- Tagalog: sagupaan
- Turkish: çatışma (tr), çarpışma (tr)
- Ukrainian: су́тичка f (sútyčka), бі́йка (uk) f (bíjka), спо́тичка f (spótyčka), перестрі́лка f (perestrílka) (with shooting)
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minor dispute
- Azerbaijani: toqquşma (az)
- Belarusian: суты́чка f (sutýčka)
- Bulgarian: караница (bg) f (karanica)
- Catalan: escaramussa f
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 口角 (hau2 gok3), 小爭論/小争论 (siu2 zang1 leon6)
- Czech: šarvátka f
- Dutch: schermutseling (nl) f
- Finnish: suukopu (fi), välikohtaus (fi), yhteenotto (fi), nahistelu (fi), jupakka (fi), kina (fi), kinastelu (fi), riita (fi), sanasota (fi), kiista (fi)
- French: escarmouche (fr) f
- Galician: escaramuza (gl) f
- German: Wortgeplänkel (de) n, Auseinandersetzung (de) f
- Hindi: झड़प (hi) f (jhaṛap), टकराव (hi) m (ṭakrāv)
- Italian: (please verify) schermaglia (it) f
- Japanese: 小競り合い (ja) (kozeriai)
- Macedonian: пре́сметка f (présmetka), су́дир m (súdir)
- Polish: potyczka (pl) f, utarczka f
- Portuguese: briguinha f
- Russian: сты́чка (ru) f (stýčka)
- Spanish: escaramuza (es) f, berrinche (es) m
- Swedish: (please verify) skärmytsling (sv) c
- Ukrainian: су́тичка f (sútyčka), спо́тичка f (spótyčka)
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skirmish (third-person singular simple present skirmishes, present participle skirmishing, simple past and past participle skirmished)
- To engage in a minor battle or dispute.
2019, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Children of Ruin, Macmillan, page 376:Other historians might also remark that […] they have persisted all this time, constantly wrestling and skirmishing and yet never destroying themselves.
Translations
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to engage in a minor battle or dispute