strife

From Middle English strif, stryf, striffe, from Old French estrif, noun derived from estriver, from Frankish *strīban; compare Dutch strijven. More at strive.

• IPA^(key): /stɹaɪf/

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• Rhymes: -aɪf

strife (countable and uncountable, plural strifes)

1. Striving; earnest endeavor; hard work.
2. Exertion or contention for superiority, either by physical or intellectual means.
   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
     A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
     Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
     Do with their death bury their parents' strife.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Timothy 6:4:

     Hee is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions, and ſtrifes of wordes, […]

3. Bitter conflict, sometimes violent.

   Synonyms: altercation, contention, discord, wrangle

   • 1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter xvii:

     A few observations about the interpretation of vows or pledges may not be out of place here. Interpretation of pledges has been a fruitful source of strife all the world over. No matter how explicit the pledge, people will turn and twist the text to suit their own purposes.

4. (colloquial) A trouble of any kind.
5. (obsolete) That which is contended against; occasion of contest.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     He ſpide lamenting her unlucky ſtrife,

• strifeful
• strifeless
• strife-ridden
• trouble and strife

• strive

• “strife”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• Fersit, resift, efrits, freits, firest, refits, rifest, Fister, fister, firste, sifter