wrangle
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
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to argue or dispute.
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to tend or round up (cattle, horses, or other livestock).
-
to obtain, often by contrivance or scheming; wangle.
He wrangled a job through a friend.
noun
verb
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(intr) to argue, esp noisily or angrily
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(tr) to encourage, persuade, or obtain by argument
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(tr) to herd (cattle or horses)
noun
Other Word Forms
- outwrangle verb (used with object)
- unwrangling adjective
Etymology
Origin of wrangle
1350–1400; Middle English, apparently < Low German wrangeln, frequentative of wrangen to struggle, make an uproar; akin to wring
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
That email doesn't specify what "matter" he's referring to, but since 2009, Stern, Epstein, and Sarah Ferguson had been engaged in a long and painful wrangle about her acute financial troubles.
From BBC
She needs to figure out how to wrangle it.
From Los Angeles Times
Thirteen of the 85 Federalist Papers wrangle with how best to handle this threat, she notes in her history of American civil-military relations.
She was one of many authors he wrangled—alcoholic William Faulkner, neurotic Dr. Seuss, industrious James Michener, imperious Philip Roth.
"The two of us get together and we're like a couple of naughty kids at school that need to be wrangled to be focused," he said.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
