strife
English
WOTD – 9 January 2016
Etymology
From Middle English strif, stryf, striffe, from Old French estrif, noun derived from estriver, from Frankish *strīban; compare Dutch strijven. More at strive.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /stɹaɪf/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (General Australian): (file) - Rhymes: -aɪf
Noun
strife (countable and uncountable, plural strifes)
- Striving; earnest endeavor; hard work.
- 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, […]
- 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.
- (colloquial) A trouble of any kind.
- (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,
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
violent conflict
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References
- “strife”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.