Fracas

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈfɹækɑː/
• US IPA: /ˈfɹeɪkÉ™s/, /ˈfɹækÉ™s/

Origin

From French fracas, from Italian fracasso, from fracassare, from Latin infra- + Italian cassare, from Latin quassare.

Full definition of fracas

Noun

1. A noisy disorderly quarrel, fight, brawl, disturbance or scrap.
• 1989, Kazuo Ishiguro, , 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, , 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