Library / English Dictionary

CLASH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A minor short-term fight

Synonyms:

brush; clash; encounter; skirmish

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

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

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "clash"):

contretemps (an awkward clash)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A loud resonant repeating noise

Example:

he could hear the clang of distant bells

Synonyms:

clang; clangor; clangoring; clangour; clank; clash; crash

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

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

noise (sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound))

Sense 3

Meaning:

A state of conflict between persons

Synonyms:

clash; friction

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

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

conflict (a state of opposition between persons or ideas or interests)

Derivation:

clash (disagree violently)

clash (be incompatible; be or come into conflict)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A state of conflict between colors

Example:

her dress was a disturbing clash of colors

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

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

conflict (a state of opposition between persons or ideas or interests)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Disagree violently

Example:

We clashed over the new farm policies

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

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

differ; disagree; dissent; take issue (be of different opinions)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s on something

Derivation:

clash (a state of conflict between persons)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Crash together with violent impact

Example:

Two meteors clashed

Synonyms:

clash; collide

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

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

collide with; hit; impinge on; run into; strike (hit against; come into sudden contact with)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "clash"):

smash (collide or strike violently and suddenly)

shock (collide violently)

crash; ram (undergo damage or destruction on impact)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Be incompatible; be or come into conflict

Example:

These colors clash

Synonyms:

clash; collide; jar

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

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

conflict (be in conflict)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

clash (a state of conflict between persons)

Credits

 Context examples: 

About ten minutes after, the driver got down and opened a pair of gates: we passed through, and they clashed to behind us.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

There was a great snarling and growling, a clashing of teeth and a flurry of bodies.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The clash and glare of sundry fiery Works upon the river-side, arose by night to disturb everything except the heavy and unbroken smoke that poured out of their chimneys.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

A dignity was given to the contest by a rigid code of ceremony, just as the clash of mail-clad knights was prefaced and adorned by the calling of the heralds and the showing of blazoned shields.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In I got bodily into the apple barrel, and found there was scarce an apple left; but sitting down there in the dark, what with the sound of the waters and the rocking movement of the ship, I had either fallen asleep or was on the point of doing so when a heavy man sat down with rather a clash close by.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Then came the sharp clink of clashing steel, and a roar like that of an angry lion—“Notre Dame Du Guesclin! St. Ives! St. Ives!”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was inevitable that the clash for leadership should come.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

On November 24, Mars will oppose Uranus, a rather strenuous planetary clash, and may inflame tempers.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

As the gate clashed behind them, a voice cried from a window...

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The porcupine met his approach with a furious squealing and a clashing of its long teeth.

(White Fang, by Jack London)