feud

UK/fjuːd/US/fjud/

nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,421 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: feuds

A feud is a long bitter quarrel between families or groups. It outlasts whatever started it.

The length is essential, since a feud runs for years and often for generations, by which point nobody quite remembers the original offence. Historical feuds between clans and families are the classic kind. The word is now used more loosely for any prolonged public quarrel, so a feud between two celebrities is a standing story. As a verb, feuding families are still at it. Vendetta is the Italian word for the same thing.

Definitions of feud

1nounfeudA long and bitter quarrel between people or groups.B2+
“The feud had been running since their grandfathers' time.”

Where it comes from

Proto-Indo-European
*peyḱ- — hostile
Proto-West Germanic
*faihiþu — hatred, enmity
Old French
faide
enm-nor
fede
English, today
feud

enm-nor fede, feide, from Old French faide, feide, fede, from Proto-West Germanic faihiþu (“hatred, enmity”) (corresponding to foe + th), from Proto-Indo-European peyḱ- (“hostile”). Cognate to Old English fǣhþ, fǣhþu, fǣhþo (“hostility, enmity, violence, revenge, vendetta”), German Fehde, and Dutch vete (“feud”) (directly inherited from Proto-West Germanic) alongside Danish fejde (“feud, enmity, hostility, war”) and Swedish fejd (“feud, controversy, quarrel, strife”) (borrowed from Middle Low German -).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 28 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

feud in the wild

The feud, along with Nas's subsequent releases Stillmatic, God's Son, and the double album Street's Disciple helped him restore his critical standing.
Nas
The feuds frequently involved conflicts between and within the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) as well as, later, the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF).
Loyalist feud
Until the early modern period, feuds were considered legitimate legal instruments and were regulated to some degree.
Feud
The feud gained national attention through tabloid coverage and has entered American culture as a metonym for any bitterly feuding rival parties.
Hatfield–McCoy feud
In professional wrestling, a feud is a staged rivalry between multiple wrestlers or groups of wrestlers.
Feud (professional wrestling)

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

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