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fighting words
Idioms and Phrases
A statement bound to start a quarrel or fight. It is often expressed as them's fighting words , as in You say your father's smarter than mine? Them's fighting words . The ungrammatical use of them's for “those are†emphasizes the folksy tone of this colloquialism, first recorded in Ring Lardner's Gullible's Travels (1917).Example Sentences
Employers resented Roosevelt’s pro-labor stance, as well as his fighting words attacking “economic royalists.â€
Rebbe Mastriano stirred up the faithful with fighting words: "When the Israelites came into their promised land, they didn't just march in and take it. God had to move in mighty ways to remove their enemies. Our promised land is Pennsylvania, and we're taking it back."
Democratic partisans want fighting words, and for Biden to take it directly to his corrupt, morally bankrupt opponent.
A driver wanting “FJBLGB6,†explained that it referred to “kids names,†but DMV official Robyn Bose instead described it as “hate speech and fighting words and vulgar.â€
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has had some fighting words for Google, too.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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