TUSSLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does tussle mean? 

• TUSSLE (noun)
  The noun TUSSLE has 1 sense:

1. disorderly fighting

  Familiarity information: TUSSLE used as a noun is very rare.

• TUSSLE (verb)
  The verb TUSSLE has 2 senses:

1. fight or struggle in a confused way at close quarters

2. make messy or untidy

  Familiarity information: TUSSLE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TUSSLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Disorderly fighting

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

dogfight; hassle; rough-and-tumble; scuffle; tussle

Hypernyms ("tussle" is a kind of...):

combat; fight; fighting; scrap (the act of fighting; any contest or struggle)

Derivation:

tussle (fight or struggle in a confused way at close quarters)

• TUSSLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they tussle    ... he / she / it tussles   
Past simple: tussled   
Past participle: tussled   
-ing form: tussling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fight or struggle in a confused way at close quarters

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

scuffle; tussle

Context example:

the drunken men started to scuffle

Hypernyms (to "tussle" is one way to...):

contend; fight; struggle (be engaged in a fight; carry on a fight)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

tussle (disorderly fighting)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make messy or untidy

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

muss; tussle

Context example:

the child mussed up my hair

Hypernyms (to "tussle" is one way to...):

disarrange (destroy the arrangement or order of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

 Context examples 

He never wasted his strength, never tussled.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I hardly know which is myself and which the butcher, we are always in such a tangle and tussle, knocking about upon the trodden grass.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

So held, John had waited with a womanly patience till the little hand relaxed its hold, and while waiting had fallen asleep, more tired by that tussle with his son than with his whole day's work.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)