Meanings
plural argy-bargies · alternative argie bargie · alternative argie-bargie · alternative argy bargy
- UKcountableuncountableA noisy disagreement, often with some fighting
There was a wee bit of an argy-bargy outside the pub.
1 more example
At least if you adopt a zero tolerance approach, when you next see a banner advertising “CD’s, DVD’s, Video’s, and Book’s”, you won’t just stay indoors getting depressed about it. Instead you will engage in some direct-action argy-bargy!
2003 November 6, Lynne Truss, “Introduction – The Seventh Sense”, in Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, London: Profile Books Ltd, →ISBN, page 29
present singular third person argy-bargies · participle present argy-bargying · participle past argy-bargied · past argy-bargied · alternative argie bargie · alternative argie-bargie · alternative argy bargy
- UKTo argue.
Ten minutes at the least did she stand at the door argy-bargying with that man.
1897, J. M. Barrie, chapter 6, in Margaret OgilvySynonyms: argle-bargle, argol-bargol
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo argue.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna verbal dispute; a wrangling argument
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From Scots, variant of argle-bargle, documented since 1822, presumably due to replacement of -le (“frequentative”) with -y (“diminutive”), documented since 1857, but without effect on the meaning.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
argy-bargy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/argy-bargy
“argy-bargy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/argy-bargy. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “argy-bargy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/argy-bargy.
Source: argy-bargy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.