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Glite Dictionary
to have words with

to have words with

1 7.2
To tell someone you are unhappy with them in an angry way
  • phrasal verb
  • Informal
translation icon : hablar con
  • "I was furious with Jackie when she told me she'd had words with you." "I thought you would be angry with me," Morgan admitted quietly.

And then he was having words with his brother.

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Examples

  • After the meeting, he had words with his manager regarding the new policy.

  • And then he was having words with his brother.

    The BlueTick Show

  • And yeah, he had words with with Paul Ince.

    The Diary Of A CEO

  • "You had words with your father?" Addy asked as soon as the bedroom door was closed.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • She was upset after having words with her colleague about the project.

  • I need to have words with you about your recent behavior in class.

Synonyms

to have words (with)
vsto have words with
  • Informal
119 7.5

Argue angrily with someone about something

is a milder confrontational talk to express disapproval or raise a problem
to have words
vsto have words with
  • Informal
11 6.9

Talk angrily to someone because of a disagreement

is used for speaking to confront or criticise rather than ongoing dispute
to have a quarrel
vsto have words with
2 2.8

Argue with someone and feel angry or upset afterward

is mainly a confrontation to complain or resolve a problem without lasting fallout

Antonyms

to approve
∞ 1.6

To officially agree to something or think that it is good

How Confrontational

to berate
36 7.2
to reprimand
  • Formal
33 6.1
to have words with
  • Informal
1 7.2
to speak to
∞ 1.7

Surface Forms

have words with infinitive
having words with present participle
has words with third person singular
had words with past
had words with past participle

Morphology

have + words + with

The constituents 'have' + 'words' + 'with' clearly signal an act of speaking directed at someone, so a learner can infer it involves talking to a person. However, the specific nuance — that the talk is confrontational or expresses disapproval — is a conventionalized, idiomatic use of 'have words' that is not fully predictable from the parts, though cross‑linguistic parallels make the figurative sense somewhat recoverable.

Etymology

Have words with comes from the simple image of two people exchanging sharp words, short angry sentences used in a quarrel, face to face. So to have words with someone means 'to speak to them to show disapproval or to argue'.