ENGLISH
REFERENCE

pissing war

idiom
Meaning

An immature dispute over some trivial matter.


Origin

disputed origin

The phrase is derived from the territorial behaviour of certain animals, such as male cats, which mark territorial claims with urine.

Examples
SIMPLE

They are just having a silly pissing war over who is faster.

CONTEXTUAL

The meeting turned into a pointless pissing war between the two managers over who had the bigger office.

COMPLEX

The board members grew tired of the endless pissing war between the departments, as it distracted everyone from the company's actual goals.

Anchors to
Related idioms7entries
  1. 01

    territorial pissing

    Any territorial behaviour exhibited by humans.

  2. 02

    tug of war

    A dispute between two parties, particularly an entrenched, back-and-forth dispute.

  3. 03

    turf war

    A fight or confrontation between two divisions or parties for access to resources or capital.

  4. 04

    war bride

    A company or individual whose business is increased by warfare.

  5. 05

    war of nerves

    Warfare characterized by psychological manipulation, involving tactics intended to demoralize, frighten, and unnerve opponents in order to prompt surrender.

  6. 06

    war of words

    A heated exchange of threatening or inflammatory statements.

  7. 07

    win the battle, but lose the war

    To achieve a portion of a goal, but fail to achieve the entire goal.

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