conflict
Americanverb (used without object)
-
conflicts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
conflicted,
past participle, past
-
conflicting
present participle
noun
-
conflicts
plural
-
a fight, battle, or struggle, especially a prolonged struggle; strife.
-
controversy; quarrel.
conflicts between parties.
- Antonyms:
- accord
-
discord of action, feeling, or effect; antagonism or opposition, as of interests or principles.
a conflict of ideas.
- Synonyms:
- opposition, contention
-
a striking together; collision.
-
incompatibility or interference, as of one idea, desire, event, or activity with another.
a conflict in the schedule.
-
Psychiatry. a mental struggle arising from opposing demands or impulses.
noun
-
a struggle or clash between opposing forces; battle
-
a state of opposition between ideas, interests, etc; disagreement or controversy
-
a clash, as between two appointments made for the same time
-
psychol opposition between two simultaneous but incompatible wishes or drives, sometimes leading to a state of emotional tension and thought to be responsible for neuroses
verb
-
to come into opposition; clash
-
to fight
Synonym Usage
See fight.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
conflictionnoun
-
preconflictnoun
-
self-conflictnoun
-
preconflictverb (used without object)
-
conflictiveadjective
-
conflictoryadjective
-
nonconflictiveadjective
-
unconflictiveadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
conflictsimple
-
conflictssimple
-
have conflictedperfect
-
has conflictedperfect
-
am conflictingprogressive
-
are conflictingprogressive
-
is conflictingprogressive
-
have been conflictingperfect progressive
-
has been conflictingperfect progressive
Past
-
conflictedsimple
-
had conflictedperfect
-
was conflictingprogressive
-
were conflictingprogressive
-
had been conflictingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of conflict
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English (noun), from Latin conflīctus “a striking together,” equivalent to conflīg(ere) “to strike together, contend” ( con- con- + flīgere “to strike”) + -tus suffix of verb action; (verb) from Latin conflīctus, past participle of conflīgere, or by verb use of the noun
Explanation
A conflict is a struggle or an opposition. If you and your best friend both fall in love with the same person, you will have to find some way to resolve the conflict. Conflict comes from the Latin word for striking, but it isn't always violent. Conflict can arise from opposing ideas. If you want to turn your empty lot into a community garden but your wife envisions a shooting range, you have a conflict. If you're torn between two different desires, you're conflicted. Conflict can also be a verb. If you schedule a dentist appointment that conflicts with a meeting, you'll have to cancel one of them.
Vocabulary lists containing conflict
TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
List 7
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Essential Literary Terms
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
Instead, they expect a prolonged series of halting starts and stops to the conflict, causing flows through the Strait of Hormuz to continuously fluctuate.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 16, 2026
Yemen's years-long civil conflict killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted millions and drove the country to the brink of famine before a 2022 truce restored relative calm.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
It’s a conflict that carries hues of classic rural-urban divides.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
"I was always keen to please. And I think it was about just this need to avoid conflict."
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
“Now, Zeke, have you got something to say to Pelicarnassus, here in front of all your classmates, setting a good example of conflict resolution and friendship between animals of very different species?”
From "Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody" by Patrick Ness
They sold gold, ivory and ultimately enslaved Africans, often those captured in local conflicts, in exchange for the manufactured goods brought mainly by the British and Dutch, including textiles, alcohol and guns.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
“This conflicts with a federally registered trademark held by Buc-ee’s,” the company said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
If only “HOTD” had put as much effort into honing its characters’ internal battles as it did depicting bloody conflicts across Westeros.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
"In cases I've handled, suspects often argue that they genuinely intended to marry and live a good life but realised they were incompatible, had conflicts, and decided to end the relationship," he says.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Issy Maisels rose dramatically and applied for the recusal of Judges Ludorf and Rumpff on the grounds that both had conflicts of interest that prevented them from being fair arbiters of our case.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Throughout the interview, Bash repeatedly interrupted Kennedy to challenge claims she said conflicted with the broader scientific consensus, particularly on COVID-19 vaccines and autism research.
From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026
"I don't want people to be conflicted over watching the England game and coming into work," he says, adding he'll "get the black coffees ready" for those who do come in.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026
And as dramatists, they’re uniquely positioned to appreciate the conflicted loyalties and communal tensions of American life in dramatic rather than dogmatic terms.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
Turning Robin Hood into a conflicted antihero suggests society has been infiltrated by cynicism about anyone being able to save us.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
His actions weren’t his own, but his thoughts were, and as he moved to grab Minya by the wrists, he was surprised to find himself conflicted.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
It fell apart within a week, predictably, as the two sides acted on conflicting interpretations of its central provisions.
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026
While the information out there can be conflicting and confusing, I’ll dig up answers and advice you can trust through rigorous research and reporting.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026
At times, the judge overseeing the dispute has seemed at a loss amid sharply conflicting narratives.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
There are conflicting accounts of the sequence of events in the northern village of Tal.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
What is crucial here is that the two conflicting results did not properly have equal status.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
