1. skirmish - Noun
2. skirmish - Verb
To fight slightly or in small parties; to engage in a skirmish or skirmishes; to act as skirmishers.
A slight fight in war; a light or desultory combat between detachments from armies, or between detached and small bodies of troops.
A slight contest.
Source: Webster's dictionaryTruth-loving Persians do not dwell upon The trivial skirmish fought near Marathon. Robert Graves
London is an endless skirmish between angles and emptiness. China Miéville
The most trivial skirmish is not trivial to those who die in it, and so should not be trivial in any ultimate sense to us. Gene Wolfe
This latest skirmish in the high art/low art war has played out most fiercely over Mr. Tidwell, who shocked balletomanes when he left American Ballet Theater in 2005, then added insult to injury by joining the third season of "So You Think You Can Dance.”. Danny Tidwell
In a war, no matter the outcome of a certain skirmish or battle, the winner is the party whose attitudes, behaviors and preoccupations come to dominate the postwar landscape. By this measure, the outcome of the gender wars, if wars they were, is clear: women won. Marcus Buckingham
Two Sir Positives can scarce meet without a skirmish. Irish Proverb