strife

[strahyf]

noun

1. vigorous or bitter conflict, discord, or antagonism.

   to be at strife.

   Synonyms: opposition, contrariety, disagreement, difference
   Antonyms: peace

2. a quarrel, struggle, or clash.

   armed strife.

   Synonyms: conflict, fight
   Antonyms: peace

3. competition or rivalry.

   the strife of the marketplace.

4. Archaic.,  strenuous effort.

strife

/ straɪf /

noun

1. angry or violent struggle; conflict

2. rivalry or contention, esp of a bitter kind

3. trouble or discord of any kind

   to get into strife

4. archaic,  striving

Other Word Forms

• strifeful adjective
• strifeless adjective
• understrife noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of strife¹

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English strif, from Old French estrif, akin to estriver; strive

Word History and Origins

Origin of strife¹

C13: from Old French estrif, probably from estriver to _strive

Example Sentences

Something we see a lot, especially with business-owner clients, is fear of not treating loved ones “equally” and creating family strife.

Read more on Barron's

But behind the scenes, the creation of the Grammy Award-nominated album was full of setbacks and strife, and the album almost didn’t get made as we know it.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Jobless inertia and financial strife breed a cruelty that isn’t dissimilar from the cold strike of an employer maintaining their bottom line, cutting 100 workers with the same callousness that they’d cut 1,000.

Read more on Salon

The rise on the pitch though, came against a backdrop of private strife.

Read more on BBC

But given their poor judgement in terms of recruitment, it could easily have pitched United into even more strife than they have been in recently.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• animosity 
• bickering 
• clash 
• conflict 
• controversy 
• disagreement 
• discord 
• dispute 
• dissension 
• disunity 
• fighting 
• friction 
• quarrel 
• rivalry 
• squabble 
• warfare 
• wrangle 
• wrangling www.thesaurus.com