strife

Synonym Chooser

How does the noun strife contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of strife are conflict, contention, discord, dissension, and variance. While all these words mean "a state or condition marked by a lack of agreement or harmony," strife emphasizes a struggle for superiority rather than the incongruity or incompatibility of the persons or things involved.

during his brief reign the empire was never free of civil strife

When is it sensible to use conflict instead of strife?

While the synonyms conflict and strife are close in meaning, conflict usually stresses the action of forces in opposition but in static applications implies an irreconcilability as of duties or desires.

the conflict of freedom and responsibility

In what contexts can contention take the place of strife?

The words contention and strife can be used in similar contexts, but contention applies to strife or competition that shows itself in quarreling, disputing, or controversy.

several points of contention about the new zoning law

When could discord be used to replace strife?

While in some cases nearly identical to strife, discord implies an intrinsic or essential lack of harmony producing quarreling, factiousness, or antagonism.

a political party long racked by discord

When might dissension be a better fit than strife?

The words dissension and strife are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, dissension implies strife or discord and stresses a division into factions.

religious dissension threatened to split the colony

When would variance be a good substitute for strife?

In some situations, the words variance and strife are roughly equivalent. However, variance implies a clash between persons or things owing to a difference in nature, opinion, or interest.

cultural variances that work against a national identity

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of strife During the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992-98, violent ethnic and religious strife boiled over among Muslims, Orthodox Christians, and Catholics. Literary Hub, 22 Oct. 2025 The public, exhausted by strife, will reward normalcy. Nafees Alam, Twin Cities, 22 Oct. 2025 The album’s title calls back to this image of a revolutionary Black Jesus, a Messiah for America’s modern racial strife. Vann R. Newkirk Ii, The Atlantic, 18 Oct. 2025 The public, exhausted by strife, will reward normalcy. Nafees Alam, Boston Herald, 18 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for strife
Recent Examples of Synonyms for strife
Noun
  • And then, playing cleverly on their natural discord, River and Shirley argue their way through a standoff with Farouk just long enough for Coe to take advantage of the distraction and plunge a blade in Farouk’s neck.
    Scott Tobias, Vulture, 29 Oct. 2025
  • China, for its part, has also stoked the flames of discord in recent weeks, first by announcing new global export controls on rare earth minerals, key components in technologies and weaponry.
    Kate Nishimura, Sourcing Journal, 23 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • The Aggies have their own rivalry game on the road on the final weekend of the regular season to worry about.
    Erick Smith, USA Today, 27 Oct. 2025
  • While neither team made it to the World Series, their matchup in the wild card round added a new chapter to their rivalry.
    Aaliyan Mohammed, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Once the largest importer of American soybeans, China paused purchases of the product in May as bilateral frictions intensified.
    John Liu, CNN Money, 24 Oct. 2025
  • To be sure, OpenAI’s surge isn’t without friction.
    Paulina Likos, CNBC, 24 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Their current struggles are not a reflection of the quality in the dressing room.
    Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 31 Oct. 2025
  • In the past eight years, she’s gone through some intense personal struggles, including a pill addiction, a suicide attempt, a lung cancer diagnosis and a divorce from her second husband Randy Bick.
    Brianne Tracy, PEOPLE, 30 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • The Raptors also played the Bucks, a 122-116 loss, with the home team bumping the game’s start time up by an hour to minimize the conflict between the two games.
    Eric Koreen, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2025
  • That is, some of the properties suffered damage during the war, but others were destroyed because the owners left the country during the conflict.
    JSTOR Daily, JSTOR Daily, 25 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • As soon as a battle or a war has been fought, victors and losers alike begin to tell different stories.
    Elizabeth D. Samet, Foreign Affairs, 29 Oct. 2025
  • Linked by the fire, a cashier, fire-fighter, district attorney and student battle to prevent tragedy, the blaze’s consequences still roiling two decades later.
    John Hopewell, Variety, 28 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Rogers noted that the book argues that a central cause of the war was Anglo settlers’ determination to keep slaves in bondage after Mexico largely abolished it.
    Preston Fore, Fortune, 25 Oct. 2025
  • In the five years just before war set in, these were among the dwellings that had beguiled Heinz Gaube (1940–2022), a German academic at the Oriental Seminar of the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen.
    JSTOR Daily, JSTOR Daily, 25 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • The Gravely’s presence accompanies the USS Ford carrier strike group, which was deployed to the Caribbean last week carrying fighter jets, electronic warfare aircraft, and surveillance planes.
    Amir Daftari, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Oct. 2025
  • Narrative warfare sways public sentiment long before a bullet is fired.
    Big Think, Big Think, 27 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Strife.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/strife. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.

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