war of words

plural wars of words

1. idiomaticA heated exchange of threatening or inflammatory statements.

   [T]hese two have brutal, contemptuous wars of words — the kind you might expect from divorcing 40-somethings.

   2007 February 22, Virginia Heffernan, “Television: No Sex, Please, We’re Engaged”, in New York Times, retrieved 09 Aug 2017

   4 more examples

   The young man much resented this directness of attack, and in the war of words which followed when they met he did not scruple publicly to insult Mr Clare, without respect for his gray hairs.

   1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter XXVI, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC

   The lower classes live in a state of war, a war of words. Their readiness is the product of the same fiery individualism as the readiness of the old fighting oligarchs. Any cabman has to be ready with his tongue, as any gentleman of the last century had to be ready with his sword.

   1901, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, chapter 13, in The Defendant, London: R. Brimley Johnson, →OCLC

   In a war of words that has broken out between Khan and Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps, the Mayor was accused of sending revenue-raising proposals to Shapps some three weeks late, giving him little choice but to extend negotiations. […

   2022 January 12, “Network News: Further extension to Transport for London emergency funding”, in RAIL, number 948, page 8

   Mr. Trump’s statement came as the Pentagon and Anthropic were continuing to negotiate a compromise despite an escalating war of words.

   2026 February 27, Julian E. Barnes, Sheera Frenkel, “Trump Orders U.S. Agencies to Stop Using Anthropic AI Tech After Pentagon Standoff”, in The New York Times, →ISSN