fracas

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Pronunciation

• (British) IPA: /ˈfɹækɑː/, /fɹəˈkɑː/
  • Plural: IPA: /ˈfɹækɑːz/, /fɹəˈkɑːz/
• (America) IPA: /ˈfɹeɪkəs/, /ˈfɹækəs/

Noun

fracas (plural fracases)

1. A noisy disorderly quarrel, fight, brawl, disturbance or scrap.
   • 1989, Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day, Faber 1999, paperback edition, p. 16,

     And I recall also some years ago, Mr Rayne, who travelled to America as valet to Sir Reginals Mauvis, remarking that a taxi driver in New York regularly addressed his fare in a manner which if repeated in London would end in some sort of fracas, if not in the fellow being frogmarched to the nearest police station.

   • 1964, Philip K. Dick, The Simulacra, Vintage Books 2002, paperback edition, p. 37,

     The Oregon-Northern California region had lost much of its population during the fracas of 1980; it had been heavily hit by Red Chinese guided missiles, and of course the clouds of fallout had blanketed it in the subsequent decade.

Synonyms

• brouhaha
• kerfuffle
• melee

Related terms

• quash

Translations

• French: bagarre
• German: Tumult, Aufruhr
• Italian: fracasso
• Portuguese: rixa
• Russian: сканда́л
• Spanish: alboroto, tumulto, altercado, gresca

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