external conflict

[ek-stur-nl kon-flikt]

noun

1. struggle between a literary or dramatic character and an outside force such as nature or another character, which drives the dramatic action of the plot.

   external conflict between Macbeth and Macduff.

2. struggle between a person and an outside force.

   external conflict between parents and children.

Word History and Origins

Origin of external conflict¹

First recorded in 1765–75

Example Sentences

“Most of the external conflict, messiness and miscommunication in the world — in corporations, in relationships, in families, in every aspect of our lives — is caused by internal conflict,” Ms. Koch continued.

Read more on New York Times

Friday alone promises fireworks, with a slate of speakers from countries roiled by internal and external conflict.

Read more on Seattle Times

The United States and Russia, and by extension the other nuclear powers, each maintains a “Strangelove”-like “doomsday machine”: “a very expensive system” of manpower and weaponry that “under conditions of electronic warning, external conflict, or expectations of attack, would with unknowable but possibly high probability bring about the global destruction of civilization and of nearly all human life on earth.”

Read more on The New Yorker

Unlike most transgender-focused films, there’s little external conflict on screen in the Golden Globe-nominated “Girl.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Orlando City’s season has played out like a Shakespearean tragedy: tragic heroes, fatal flaws, internal conflict, external conflict and comic relief.

Read more on The Guardian

When To Use

What is an external conflict?

There are lots of different types of external conflict, but what is common among all of them is that the conflict is always a clash between one person (or group) and a different person (or group). It is not a struggle within one’s self. That’s why it’s called external.