From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishwar of wordsˌwar of ˈwords noun [singular] PPARGUEa public argument between politicians etc
Examples from the Corpus
war of words• Traditionalists fought back in a war of words that continues to this day.• A war of words continued for months, the defeated candidates complaining of unfair muckraking.• Amid an increasingly hostile war of words, Finley has criticized Racicot for reneging on a promise to cooperate with federal authorities.• On June 30, the war of words was intensified by John Trudell.• But that knowledge has been buried in the war of words which has accompanied mass unemployment.• In their war of words and figures, both companies have issued comparisons of the two plans, with strikingly different results.• Yet it had been Eleanor who had started this war of words. 