rough-and-tumbles

noun

plural of rough-and-tumble
as in brawls
a rough and often noisy fight usually involving several people a rough-and-tumble broke out among the fans in the stands

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for rough-and-tumbles
  1. brawls
  2. clashes
Noun
  • The Balboa Peninsula, which Stapleton represents on the council, has historically been an infamous hot spot for public drinking, disruptive parties and brawls throughout the summer and especially during the Fourth of July.
    — Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 5 July 2026
  • Interspersed with the adventure – and quite a few brawls with bad guys – are flashbacks to Kara’s time on Krypton and adopting Krypto.
    — Brian Truitt, USA Today, 25 June 2026
Definition of brawls
Noun
  • But occasionally there can be personality clashes or people who other people on the trip find annoying.
    — Larry Olmsted, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026
  • Sistan-Baluchistan, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, has long seen clashes between security forces, insurgents and drug smugglers.
    — Alex Sundby, CBS News, 30 June 2026
Definition of clashes
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

rough-and-tumble
rough-and-tumbles
roughed
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Rough-and-tumbles.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rough-and-tumbles. Accessed 8 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of gambol

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All