Strife

• POS: Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

Strife, n. [OF. estrif. See Strive.].

•  The act of striving; earnest endeavor.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
•  Exertion or contention for superiority; contest of emulation, either by intellectual or physical efforts.  [1913 Webster]

  "Doting about questions and strifes of words."  [1913 Webster]

  "Thus gods contended -- noble strife -
  Who most should ease the wants of life."  [1913 Webster]
•  Altercation; violent contention; fight; battle.  [1913 Webster]

  "Twenty of them fought in this black strife."  [1913 Webster]

  "These vows, thus granted, raised a strife above
  Betwixt the god of war and queen of love."  [1913 Webster]
•  That which is contended against; occasion of contest.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Contest; struggle; quarrel. See Contention.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Strife, n.
1 conflict; struggle between opposed persons or things.
2 Austral. colloq. trouble of any kind.

Etymology

ME f. OF estrif: cf. OF estriver STRIVE

THESAURUS

Strife

Kilkenny cats, altercation, animosity, antagonism, arguing, argument, bad blood, bicker, bickering, blood feud, brawl, broil, cat-and-dog life, combat, competition, conflict, contention, contentiousness, contest, contestation, controversy, cut and thrust, debate, difference, disagreement, discord, disharmony, disputation, dispute, dissension, donnybrook, donnybrook fair, embroilment, enmity, feud, fight, fighting, fliting, fracas, friction, fuss, hard feelings, hatred, hostility, ill will, imbroglio, litigation, logomachy, open quarrel, paper war, polemic, quarrel, quarreling, quarrelsomeness, rivalry, scrapping, sharp words, slanging match, snarl, spat, squabble, squabbling, struggle, tiff, tussle, unfriendliness, vendetta, war, war of words, warfare, words, wrangle, wrangling

ROGET THESAURUS

Strife

Discord

N discord, disagreement, discord, disaccord, dissidence, dissonance, jar, clash, shock, jarring, jostling, screw loose, variance, difference, dissension, misunderstanding, cross purposes, odds, brouillerie, division, split, rupture, disruption, division in the camp, house divided against itself, disunion, breach, schism, feud, faction, quarrel, dispute, tiff, tracasserie, squabble, altercation, barney, demel_e, snarl, spat, towrow, words, high words, wrangling, jangle, brabble, cross questions and crooked answers, snip-snap, family jars, polemics, litigation, strife, warfare, outbreak, open rupture, declaration of war, broil, brawl, row, racket, hubbub, rixation, embroilment, embranglement, imbroglio, fracas, breach of the peace, piece of work, scrimmage, rumpus, breeze, squall, riot, disturbance, commotion, bear garden, Donnybrook, Donnybrook Fair, subject of dispute, ground of quarrel, battle ground, disputed point, bone of contention, bone to pick, apple of discord, casus belli, question at issue, vexed question, vexata quaestio, brand of discord, troublous times, cat-and-dog life, contentiousness, enmity, hate, Kilkenny cats, disputant, strange bedfellows, discordant, disagreeing, out of tune, ajar, on bad terms, dissentient, unreconciled, unpacified, contentious, quarrelsome, unpacific, gladiatorial, controversial, polemic, disputatious, factious, litigious, litigant, pettifogging, at odds, at loggerheads, at daggers drawn, at variance, at issue, at cross purposes, at sixes and sevens, at feud, at high words, up in arms, together by the ears, in hot water, embroiled, torn, disunited, quot homines tot sententiae, no love lost between them, non nostrum tantas componere lites, Mars gravior sub pace latet, discord, discordance, dissonance, cacophony, want of harmony, caterwauling, harshness, Babel, Dutch concert, cat's concert, marrowbones and cleavers, discordant, dissonant, absonant, out of tune, tuneless, unmusical, untunable, unmelodious, immelodious, unharmonious, inharmonious, singsong, cacophonous, harsh, jarring.

Contention

N contention, strife, contest, contestation, struggle, belligerency, opposition, controversy, polemics, debate, war of words, logomachy, litigation, paper war, high words, sparring, competition, rivalry, corrivalry, corrivalship, agonism, concours, match, race, horse racing, heat, steeple chase, handicap, regatta, field day, sham fight, Derby day, turf, sporting, bullfight, tauromachy, gymkhana, boat race, torpids, wrestling, greco-roman wrestling, pugilism, boxing, fisticuffs, the manly art of self-defense, spar, mill, set-to, round, bout, event, prize fighting, quarterstaff, single stick, gladiatorship, gymnastics, jiujitsu, jujutsu, kooshti, sumo, athletics, athletic sports, games of skill, shindy, fracas, clash of arms, tussle, scuffle, broil, fray, affray, affrayment, velitation, colluctation, luctation, brabble, brigue, scramble, melee, scrimmage, stramash, bushfighting, free fight, stand up fight, hand to hand, running fight, conflict, skirmish, rencounter, encounter, rencontre, collision, affair, brush, fight, battle, battle royal, combat, action, engagement, joust, tournament, tilt, tilting, tournay, list, pitched battle, death struggle, struggle for life or death, life or death struggle, Armageddon, hard knocks, sharp contest, tug of war, naval engagement, naumachia, sea fight, duel, duello, single combat, monomachy, satisfaction, passage d'armes, passage of arms, affair of honor, triangular duel, hostile meeting, digladiation, deeds of arms, feats of arms, appeal to arms, pugnacity, combativeness, bone of contention, contending, together by the ears, at loggerheads, at war, at issue, competitive, rival, belligerent, contentious, combative, bellicose, unpeaceful, warlike, quarrelsome, pugnacious, pugilistic, gladiatorial, palestric, palestrical, a verbis ad verbera, a word and a blow, a very pretty quarrel as it stands, commune periculum concordiam parit, lis litem generat.