dustup

plural dustups · alternative dust-up · alternative dust up

1. informalA scuffle or fight.

   Mik looked at his arm and knew this wouldn't work for another dustup with the she-hemoth that was hot on his heels. He put his shield on the damaged arm. It felt strange since he usually wore it on his left.

   2014 September 9, Patrick M. Robbins, Supergatory, iUniverse, →ISBN

   Synonyms: affray, dust-up, fight, fracas, kerfuffle, rixation, ruckus, set to

2. broadlyinformalAn argument or dispute.

   The incident followed other dustups between the two parties over the conduct of the war on terrorism.

   2005 June 21, Seattle Times

   2 more examples

   “Look at us. I plumb forgot what this dustup's even about. Now, what I'm-what I'm... what I'm trying to say here is, hoo, boy, we all need to stop fightin'.”

   2020 September 27, Christy Stratton & Jeremy Rowley, “Violet's Secret” (18:18 from the start), in Bless the Harts, season 2, episode 1, spoken by Wayne Edwards (Ike Barinholtz)

   And given how few Netflix subscribers appear to have canceled their subscriptions during last year’s dust-up with Mr. Chappelle, Spotify can probably breathe easy on this front for now.

   2022 January 31, Kevin Roose, “Spotify’s Joe Rogan Problem Isn’t Going Away”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   Synonyms: argument, argy-bargy, altercation, contention, barney, bawl out, blue, bobbery