Other forms: strives
Strife is bitter conflict between people or groups. Industrial strife, civil strife, years of strife.
It means ongoing conflict rather than a single fight, and it belongs to headlines and to older writing. Civil strife stops short of civil war. The verb strive is the same root, which is a useful reminder that both mean struggle.
1nounstrifeBitter conflict between people or groups.
“Money problems caused a lot of strife in their marriage.”
strife is a conflict.
Old French estrif comes from a Frankish word meaning to strive or contend. Strive is the same root.
Frankish
*strīban
Old French
estrif
Middle English
strif
English, today
strife
From Middle English strif, stryf, striffe, from Old French estrif, noun derived from estriver, from Frankish strīban; compare Dutch strijven. More at strive.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA