1
as in frictions
a lack of agreement or harmony
the conflict between absolute freedom and personal responsibility
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in clashes
a physical dispute between opposing individuals or groups
an armed conflict between strikers and strikebreakers
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in hostilities
a state of armed violent struggle between states, nations, or groups
the United Nations strives to prevent international conflicts
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in rivalries
an earnest effort for superiority or victory over another
the eternal conflict between the forces of good and evil
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in collides
to be out of harmony or agreement usually noticeably
his statement conflicts with the facts, as given in the police report
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of conflicts
Big Think, 10 Feb. 2026
Previously, there was also a recasting of the original leads, Saoirse Ronan and Austin Butler, due to scheduling conflicts, with Spaeny and Starkey taking over the roles.
—Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 10 Feb. 2026
The event will bring together Purple Heart recipients from across conflicts and generations.
—Frank Lennon, The Providence Journal, 9 Feb. 2026
Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya’s leader, Mohammed Takkoush, said during the 14-month war between Hezbollah and Israel that his group and Hezbollah put aside their differences on conflicts in Syria and Yemen to join forces against Israel.
—Los Angeles Times, 9 Feb. 2026
Prosecutors previously confirmed Wynn was employed at the time as a violence interrupter with the District’s Cure the Streets program, which works to prevent gun violence by mediating conflicts in high-risk communities.
—7news Wjla, Baltimore Sun, 9 Feb. 2026
Even a principled, well-meaning actor like Claude could face bewildering ethical conflicts.
—Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2026
They must be vetted on national security grounds and for potential conflicts with a police investigation.
—Jill Lawless, Fortune, 9 Feb. 2026
Journal editors and professional societies can take early steps by adding a few positionality items to existing disclosure forms for psychedelic work and by asking authors to state briefly how experiential conflicts and role separation were handled in their trials.
—Ian Reardon, STAT, 2 Feb. 2026
Malana Vantyler, USA Today, 11 Feb. 2026
That approach also conflicts with the national framework governing commercial driver licensing.
—Bhupinder Kaur, The Orlando Sentinel, 7 Feb. 2026
And that sometimes conflicts with folks who jump in on discussions right as things are happening.
—Zack Pierce, New York Times, 4 Feb. 2026
The description conflicts with the White House’s portrayal of the two women as long estranged.
—Billal Rahman, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Nov. 2025
That law conflicts with the state constitution, Womack said.
—Arkansas Online, 3 Nov. 2025
The center guides parties through community issues like noise but also conflicts with roommates and landlords.
—Gina Lee Castro, jsonline.com, 8 Oct. 2025
Morrisey hasn’t withdrawn his executive order, which conflicts with the state’s immunization law, and has generated confusion and uncertainty.
—Dhruv Khullar, New Yorker, 24 Sep. 2025
Work culture, tennis or otherwise, rewards busyness and often self-sacrifice, which conflicts with self-care and mental health.
—Bryan Robinson, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025
Noun
If multiple hypotheses work to explain the data equally well but one conflicts with reality in some other realm (and the other doesn’t), the one that’s valid across the widest range of applicability is superior.
—Big Think, 10 Feb. 2026
Previously, there was also a recasting of the original leads, Saoirse Ronan and Austin Butler, due to scheduling conflicts, with Spaeny and Starkey taking over the roles.
—Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 10 Feb. 2026
The event will bring together Purple Heart recipients from across conflicts and generations.
—Frank Lennon, The Providence Journal, 9 Feb. 2026
Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya’s leader, Mohammed Takkoush, said during the 14-month war between Hezbollah and Israel that his group and Hezbollah put aside their differences on conflicts in Syria and Yemen to join forces against Israel.
—Los Angeles Times, 9 Feb. 2026
Prosecutors previously confirmed Wynn was employed at the time as a violence interrupter with the District’s Cure the Streets program, which works to prevent gun violence by mediating conflicts in high-risk communities.
—7news Wjla, Baltimore Sun, 9 Feb. 2026
Even a principled, well-meaning actor like Claude could face bewildering ethical conflicts.
—Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2026
They must be vetted on national security grounds and for potential conflicts with a police investigation.
—Jill Lawless, Fortune, 9 Feb. 2026
Journal editors and professional societies can take early steps by adding a few positionality items to existing disclosure forms for psychedelic work and by asking authors to state briefly how experiential conflicts and role separation were handled in their trials.
—Ian Reardon, STAT, 2 Feb. 2026
Verb
But Balzano rejects the idea that fast development automatically conflicts with automotive reliability.
—Malana Vantyler, USA Today, 11 Feb. 2026
That approach also conflicts with the national framework governing commercial driver licensing.
—Bhupinder Kaur, The Orlando Sentinel, 7 Feb. 2026
And that sometimes conflicts with folks who jump in on discussions right as things are happening.
—Zack Pierce, New York Times, 4 Feb. 2026
The description conflicts with the White House’s portrayal of the two women as long estranged.
—Billal Rahman, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Nov. 2025
That law conflicts with the state constitution, Womack said.
—Arkansas Online, 3 Nov. 2025
The center guides parties through community issues like noise but also conflicts with roommates and landlords.
—Gina Lee Castro, jsonline.com, 8 Oct. 2025
Morrisey hasn’t withdrawn his executive order, which conflicts with the state’s immunization law, and has generated confusion and uncertainty.
—Dhruv Khullar, New Yorker, 24 Sep. 2025
Work culture, tennis or otherwise, rewards busyness and often self-sacrifice, which conflicts with self-care and mental health.
—Bryan Robinson, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for conflicts
Noun
-
Ireland's leadership traveled as well, while Australia sought stabilization after years of intense trade frictions, recriminations, and retaliation.—
Dewardric L. McNeal,
CNBC,
13 Feb. 2026
-
That ruling, which found that the contract awarded to Hutchison’s Panama Ports Company violated Panama’s constitution and follows the official audit, again raises frictions.—
Simone McCarthy,
CNN Money,
5 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Subsequent border clashes with Cambodia allowed Anutin to recast himself as a wartime leader after his popularity initially slipped because of floods and financial scandals.—
GRANT PECK,
Arkansas Online,
9 Feb. 2026
-
Their goal with the video was to push back against the president’s domestic troop deployments, a trend his critics feared might lead to clashes with ordinary Americans or be used to interfere in upcoming elections.—
Missy Ryan,
The Atlantic,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Less inviting and contemplative than aggressive and giddy, its priority isn’t to ask the audience to step outside their own perspective and examine how their behavior may contribute to similar hostilities.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
13 Feb. 2026
-
This year’s cohort of activists, while quieter than in the past as a result of the ongoing hostilities, is striving to amplify the voices suppressed and introduce emerging artists to a wider audience.—
Tina Ahmadi Krol,
HollywoodReporter,
13 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
As a 10-time world champion who’s entering her fifth, and final, Winter Olympics, American hockey star Hilary Knight, 35, has played a key role in energizing one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports.—
Sean Gregory,
Time,
4 Feb. 2026
-
The sport was built on rivalries.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
4 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Your dedicated Slack channels, private discords and endless Reddit threads.—
April Uchitel,
Flow Space,
6 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
And while his 11 years with the Yankees were often marked with verbal skirmishes with George Steinbrenner, in 1982 the Boss showed his respect for Nettles’ baseball acumen and quiet clubhouse leadership to name him the first Yankee captain since Thurman Munson’s death in 1979.—
Bill Madden,
New York Daily News,
31 Jan. 2026
-
These were not skirmishes but full-scale conflicts, usually costing tens—sometimes hundreds—of thousands of lives.—
Robert Kagan,
The Atlantic,
18 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Pressure from shareholders and the race to beat out competitors in the AI wars factor into the efficiency drive.—
Sarah Jackson,
CNBC,
10 Feb. 2026
-
There are hot wars in Ukraine and Gaza, cold wars on the Korean peninsula and in the Taiwan Strait, and budding wars in Iran and parts of Africa.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
While earlier phases of the Bay-Delta plan have already been litigated, much of the recent focus has been on lengthy negotiations and revisions to the plan, rather than on launching new courtroom battles.—
Chaewon Chung,
Sacbee.com,
10 Feb. 2026
-
The beef, which started in 1999, has spawned almost three decades of diss tracks and battles in real life and on social media.—
Assistant Editor,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Conflicts.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/conflicts. Accessed 17 Feb. 2026.
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