conflict
Americanverb (used without object)
-
conflicts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
conflicted,
past participle, past
-
conflicting
present participle
noun
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conflicts
plural
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a fight, battle, or struggle, especially a prolonged struggle; strife.
-
controversy; quarrel.
conflicts between parties.
- Antonyms:
- accord
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discord of action, feeling, or effect; antagonism or opposition, as of interests or principles.
a conflict of ideas.
- Synonyms:
- opposition, contention
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a striking together; collision.
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incompatibility or interference, as of one idea, desire, event, or activity with another.
a conflict in the schedule.
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Psychiatry. a mental struggle arising from opposing demands or impulses.
noun
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a struggle or clash between opposing forces; battle
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a state of opposition between ideas, interests, etc; disagreement or controversy
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a clash, as between two appointments made for the same time
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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
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to come into opposition; clash
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to fight
Synonym Usage
See fight.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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conflictionnoun
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preconflictnoun
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self-conflictnoun
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preconflictverb (used without object)
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conflictiveadjective
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conflictoryadjective
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nonconflictiveadjective
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unconflictiveadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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conflictsimple
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conflictssimple
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have conflictedperfect
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has conflictedperfect
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am conflictingprogressive
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are conflictingprogressive
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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)
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List 7
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Essential Literary Terms
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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:
Both nations were exhausted with the conflict, Trump added.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
But conflict doesn’t always have to come from destruction.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
The increase comes as conflict in the Middle East continues to disrupt global oil supplies.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
The skirmish in this remote corner of Texas is part of a bigger conflict confronting utilities and their customers across the country.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
Hill jumped on every chance to bend the ear of the industrialists, explaining why promotion of blacks to foremen would reduce conflict and increase efficiency.
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
The military’s reasoning was that leaking some of the information about these interplanetary conflicts might reduce the shock to the public the day the real revelations came.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
Climate change, along with cyber-attacks, disease outbreaks and conflicts can all put a strain on the process that eventually gets food into our shops and homes.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
“People are right to think about conflicts of interest and not being involved in commercial entanglements with the labs,” Purser said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026
The software can analyze airline schedules and factors such as weather, airport runway capacity and operational constraints to predict air-traffic flows and foresee potential conflicts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
That factor alone would explain why societies of thousands can exist only if they develop centralized authority to monopolize force and resolve conflicts.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
“I was close to Fred’s age when this all went down. It was fun to play somebody morally conflicted that is actually on the good side.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
Fellow fan Patti Ann has felt less conflicted over the backlash and instead said Sheeran was in a "no-win situation".
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
Taken to the extreme, conflicted sell-side research fed into the dot-com bubble.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026
Plus, Nvidia puts $6 billion more behind open-weight models, and rare-book dealers are conflicted about AI-era sales boost.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
The Soviet press and government seemed conflicted about the presence of women in space, however.
From "Women in Space" by Karen Bush Gibson
“Several conflicting fundamental factors are shaping the market between support and pressure,” Rania Gule of XS.com says in a note.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
A payable-on-death or beneficiary designation is a contract and, as such, trumps a conflicting provision in the will.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
Bourguet also said he does not regret his comments although he has conflicting thoughts about its consequences.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
When those two instincts collide, it’s bound to be complex and conflicting, and Greengrass delivers that with a boots-on-the-ground style.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
I was trying so hard to navigate my conflicting worlds at school and at home, I left it buried in the back of my mind.
From "How Dare the Sun Rise" by Sandra Uwiringiyimana
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.
