Military. a fight between small bodies of troops, especially advanced or outlying detachments of opposing armies.
any brisk conflict or encounter: She had a skirmish with her landlord about the rent.
verb (used without object)
to engage in a skirmish.
Origin of skirmish
1300–50; (noun) Middle English skirmysshe<Old French eskirmiss-, long stem of eskirmir<Germanic (compare Old High German skirman); replacing Middle English scarmouche<Old French escaramoucher (see Scaramouch); (v.) late Middle English scarmuchen, scarmusshen to skirmish, Middle English skirmisshen to brandish a weapon <Old French escar(a)mucher to skirmish; vowels influenced by Old French eskirmiss-
SYNONYMS FOR skirmish
1 combat, brush.
SEE SYNONYMS FOR skirmish ON THESAURUS.COM
synonym study for skirmish
1. See battle1.
OTHER WORDS FROM skirmish
skir·mish·er,nounoutskirmish,verb (used with object)
Reinoehl shot Danielson near the end of that Saturday of street skirmishes between antifascists and right-wingers.
New Eyewitness Accounts: Feds Didn’t Identify Themselves Before Opening Fire on Portland Antifa Suspect|by Bryan Denson for ProPublica and Conrad Wilson, Oregon Public Broadcasting|October 13, 2020|ProPublica
These early skirmishes will determine whether DeFi can live up to its aspirational potential as an alternative, open source financial system.
Is the SushiSwap saga a preview of a new wave of crypto chaos?|dzanemorris|September 9, 2020|Fortune
After multiple skirmishes between Apple and developers, regulators have started playing closer attention.
Why Apple let WordPress walk but continues to fight Fortnite’s Epic Games|rhhackettfortune|August 25, 2020|Fortune
And earlier that day, the 43-year-old had earned the précis, breaking up a skirmish by the Staten Island Ferry.
Before Eric Garner, There Was Michael Stewart: The Tragic Story of the Real-Life Radio Raheem|Marlow Stern|December 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
As we hear in Mark 15:7, he was apparently an insurrectionist, an anti-Roman revolutionary, and had killed someone in a skirmish.
The Barabbas Theory of Voting: Bible Story Shows Tough Choices for Midterms|Jay Parini|November 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A half-an-hour earlier they had been caught in the middle of a mortar barrage in a skirmish with separatists.
Shakeup In the Ukraine Rebel High Command|Jamie Dettmer|August 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
That is a high death toll for Hezbollah in a skirmish inside Lebanon on its home territory.
Hezbollah’s Widening War Spreads to Iraq|Jamie Dettmer|August 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The first skirmish in the renewed battle for gender wage equality seemed to be won by Republicans.
Obama Is Nudging the White House Toward Gender Pay Equity|Brandy Zadrozny|April 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
"It must have been a skirmish," replied Dan, glancing down the slope.
The Battle Ground|Ellen Glasgow
I assisted him, riding my sorrel pony, the only horse on the skirmish line, as all the men fought dismounted.
Three Years in the Federal Cavalry|Willard Glazier
If left, instead of right is given that simply means that the leading or base squad is to be the left of the skirmish line.
The Plattsburg Manual|O.O. Ellis and E.B. Garey
Vinegar Hill in the immediate vicinity was the scene of a skirmish in 1798, when the town was stormed and burned by the rebels.
The New Gresham Encyclopedia|Various
The Indians charged down the valley in large force, close up to the skirmish line, but failed to make any impression.
Eleven Years in the Rocky Mountains and Life on the Frontier|Frances Fuller Victor
British Dictionary definitions for skirmish
skirmish
/ (ˈskɜːmɪʃ) /
noun
a minor short-lived military engagement
any brisk clash or encounter, usually of a minor nature
verb
(intr often foll by with) to engage in a skirmish
Derived forms of skirmish
skirmisher, noun
Word Origin for skirmish
C14: from Old French eskirmir, of Germanic origin; related to Old High German skirmen to defend