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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

brawl.

A disorderly argument or fight, usually with a large number of people involved.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/bɹɔːl/Received-Pronunciation/bɹoːl/Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard/bɹɔl//bɹɑl/cot-caught-merger
  1. A disorderly argument or fight, usually with a large number of people involved.

Where this word comes from

The verb is derived from Late Middle English braulen, brall, brallen (“to clamour, to shout; to quarrel; to boast”); further etymology is uncertain, but the word could be related to bray and ultimately imitative. It may be cognate with Danish bralle (“to chatter, jabber”), Dutch brallen (“to boast”), Low German brallen (“to brag”), Middle High German prālen (“to boast, flaunt”) (modern German prahlen (“to boast, flaunt, vaunt”)). The noun is derived from Middle English brall, bralle, braul, braule, brawle (“disturbance, squabble; brawl”), from the verb braulen: see above.

verb/bɹɔːl/Received-Pronunciation/bɹoːl/Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard/bɹɔl//bɹɑl/cot-caught-merger
  1. To engage in a brawl; to fight or quarrel.

    intransitive
  2. To create a disturbance; to complain loudly.

    intransitive
  3. Especially of a rapid stream running over stones: to make a loud, confused noise.

    intransitive
  4. To pour abuse on; to scold.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

The verb is derived from Late Middle English braulen, brall, brallen (“to clamour, to shout; to quarrel; to boast”); further etymology is uncertain, but the word could be related to bray and ultimately imitative. It may be cognate with Danish bralle (“to chatter, jabber”), Dutch brallen (“to boast”), Low German brallen (“to brag”), Middle High German prālen (“to boast, flaunt”) (modern German prahlen (“to boast, flaunt, vaunt”)). The noun is derived from Middle English brall, bralle, braul, braule, brawle (“disturbance, squabble; brawl”), from the verb braulen: see above.

verb/bɹɔːl/Received-Pronunciation/bɹoːl/Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard/bɹɔl//bɹɑl/cot-caught-merger
  1. To move to and fro, to quiver, to shake.

    intransitive · obsolete
Where this word comes from

Possibly from French branler (“to shake”), from Old French brandeler (“to shake, wave; to agitate”), from brand, branc (“blade of a sword”), from Vulgar Latin *brandus (“firebrand; flaming sword; sword”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrenu- (“to burn”).

noun/bɹɔːl/Received-Pronunciation/bɹoːl/Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard/bɹɔl//bɹɑl/cot-caught-merger
  1. A type of dance move or step.

    obsolete
  2. Alternative form of branle (“dance of French origin dating from the 16th century, performed by couples in a circle or a line; the music for this dance”).

    alt-of · alternative · historical
Where this word comes from

From French branle (“type of dance; an act of shaking, a shake”), from branler (“to shake”), from Old French brandeler (“to shake, wave; to agitate”); see further at etymology 2. Alternatively, the word could be derived from brawl (“(obsolete) to move to and fro, quiver, shake”): see etymology 2.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.