clash

SayKLASH/klæʃ/UK/klaʃ/

18 meanings of clash

1
nouncountable
A brief hostile encounter or skirmish between opposing groups.
The border clash left several soldiers wounded.
Historians still debate what triggered the clash between the rival clans.
Similarskirmish, fight, confrontation, encounter, battle
2
verbintransitive
To come into violent conflict with an opposing side.
Protesters clashed with riot police throughout the night.
Armies clash whenever neither side will retreat.
Similarfight, battle, skirmish, scuffle, brawl
3
nouncountable
An opposition or contradiction between differing interests, views, or purposes.
A clash of values lay at the heart of the dispute.
The committee struggled with the clash between economic growth and environmental protection.
Similarconflict, contradiction, tension, incompatibility, opposition
Oppositeharmony, agreement, compatibility, accord
Note
Here the opposition is abstract rather than a fight: what collides is beliefs, values or interests. It comes in two shapes. One is the of-phrase (a clash of beliefs). The other is the compound with the clashing things in front (a culture clash). When the two sides are named separately, "between" does the work: a clash between growth and protection.
4
nouncountable
An angry argument or heated verbal dispute between people.
A bitter clash erupted between the manager and the new hire.
The meeting ended in a furious clash over the budget.
Similarargument, dispute, quarrel, row, altercation
5
verbintransitive
To argue angrily with someone.
The senators clashed repeatedly during the debate.
Coworkers clash when deadlines pile up.
Similarargue, quarrel, disagree, squabble, bicker
Oppositeagree
6
verbintransitive
To fail to look good together, contrasting in a way that is unpleasant to the eye rather than harmonizing.
Like two singers in different keys: each fine alone, jarring when heard together.
The crimson tie clashes with his olive jacket.
Bold geometric prints can clash when layered in one small room.
Similarjar, conflict
Oppositematch, harmonize, complement, coordinate
Note
Here the conflict is purely visual: colors, patterns and furnishings that refuse to sit together. The partner word is "with," and the thing complained about comes first: the shirt clashes with your trousers, the wallpaper with the carpet. Its noun is the mismatched outfit, as in a horrible clash of red and orange. You never clash two colors; they clash.
7
nouncountable
Clothes worn together that create an unattractive overall effect, particularly through colors that do not go well together.
His striped tie and checked shirt made a jarring clash.
The bridesmaids' dresses were an unfortunate clash of mismatched colors.
Similarmismatch
Oppositeharmony
8
nouncountableonomatopoeic
A loud noise resembling metal objects crashing together.
The clash of swords echoed across the courtyard.
A metallic clash rang out when the heavy gate slammed shut.
Similarclang, crash, clatter, clank
Note
The sound sense is the root of the whole word. It imitates the noise it names, just as Dutch kletsen and German klatschen, both meaning to smack or slap, imitate theirs. Every fight, quarrel and mismatch the word later names borrows this noise. Pots and pans make it, and so does rain beating against a house in Patricia McLinn's Lattimore Mountain (2025).
9
verbintransitive
To make a loud, ringing sound like metal striking metal.
The cymbals clashed at the climax of the symphony.
Swords clash whenever the actors stage the duel.
Similarclang, crash, clank, ring
10
verbintransitive
To occur at the same time as something else, making it impossible to attend both.
Unfortunately the conference and the wedding clash, so she had to choose.
Two major festivals clashed this weekend, splitting the crowds between them.
Similarcoincide, conflict, overlap, collide
Note
The scheduling meaning: two events claim the same hour, so one must be given up. It takes "with," which names the rival event: a wedding clashes with a funeral, German clashed with art on the timetable. The issue is time, not looks, which separates it from the colors that don't go. A class that clashes with art has nothing to do with taste.

11
verbintransitive
To meet and compete against each other in an important game or contest.
The top two sides clash tonight in a match that decides the title.
The champions clashed with their oldest rivals in a sold-out stadium.
Similarmeet, compete, play
12
nouncountable
A match; a contest played between two opposing sides, often a notable or hard-fought one.
Saturday's clash drew the largest crowd of the season.
The title clash between the two giants was broadcast worldwide.
Similarmatch, game, contest, showdown, encounter
Note
Sports reporting uses the word to make a fixture sound like a collision of rivals. It usually carries a stage label in front and "with" after it. Tom Fordyce, reporting France's 19–12 win over England at the 2011 Rugby World Cup, has Les Bleus set up "a deserved semi-final clash with Wales." A title clash follows the same pattern, naming what is at stake.
13
verbtransitive
To strike objects together so that they make a loud, ringing sound.
The percussionist clashed the cymbals on the final beat.
Protesters clash metal trays and spoons to make as much noise as possible.
Similarbang, clang, strike, crash
Note
The transitive partner of the plain sounding verb: here someone does the striking. The object is the thing struck, and "against" names what it meets, as when Thorfinn clashes his shield against Vallon's in Robert Lyndon's Hawk Quest (2012). The noise comes from the collision; the verb belongs to the person behind it.
14
nouncountable
In hurling, a restart of play in which the ball is dropped between two opposing players who contest possession.
The umpire signaled a clash after the ball went dead near the sideline.
A quick clash near the goal gave the home side possession.
Note
Hurling's word for its restart: when play stops on a dead ball, the ball is dropped between one player from each side, and both go for it at once. The name suits the moment, two opponents meeting the same ball together. Keep it apart from the word for a whole match: a clash here is a single moment inside a game, not the game itself.
15
verbdialectalScotlandintransitive
To engage in idle chatter or to gossip about other people's affairs.
The two of them clash happily about everyone at church each Sunday.
The servants clashed in the kitchen about the master's private business.
Similargossip, chatter, natter, tattle
Note
The verb behind the Scots word for gossip, and it carries the same regional coloring. It takes no object: people clash about someone, rather than clash a story. As with the noun, a listener outside Scotland will reach for the quarreling meaning first, so two people clashing about their neighbors can sound like a dispute rather than a pleasant gossip.
16
noundialectalScotlanduncountable
Idle chatter or gossip, especially talk about other people's private affairs.
The market square was full of clash about the mayor's daughter.
She had no time for idle clash about her neighbors.
Similargossip, chatter, talk, tittle-tattle
Note
A Scots word for talk that goes nowhere, built from the same imitative root as the crashing noise, with idle chatter heard as so much clatter. It often goes without an article: a square full of clash, no time for idle clash. Outside Scotland a listener is likely to hear a quarrel instead, so "there was clash about her" can be misread.
17
verbslangintransitive
To play either of the video games Clash Royale or Clash of Clans.
Most of my friends clash on their phones during lunch break.
She clashes whenever she has a few minutes free, trying to push her clan up the rankings.
Note
A players' verb made from the word the two game titles share, Clash Royale and Clash of Clans. It is slang and takes no object: friends clash; they do not clash a game. It turns up in casual plans, such as "Dude, are we clashing tonight?" Outside that circle the same question sounds like a plan to fight, so the context has to make the game clear.
18
nounobsoleteUKcountable
A heavy fall of rain, especially a sudden and intense downpour.
A sudden clash of rain drove the haymakers indoors before noon.
The road was washed out after the night's clash.
Note
A weather word from British regional speech, and one that has probably fallen out of use. The Farmer's Magazine of 1802 worries about autumn clay soils meeting "heavy clashes of rain" before frost, while Thomas Clarke's Specimens of the dialects of Westmorland (1887) treats it as a mass noun: "seea mitch clash an caald," so much rain and cold. Blash means the same; outside dialect writing, read it rather than use it.

Practice

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Origin

The word is of onomatopoeic origin, imitating a sound, and is comparable to West Frisian kletse, Dutch kletsen ("to smack, slap, clash"), and German klatschen ("to clap, smack, slap") with its noun Klatsch ("a clapping sound; the din of things colliding").