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Meaning of conflict in English:

conflict

Pronunciation /ˈkɒnflɪkt/ /kənˈflɪkt/

See synonyms for conflict

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noun

  • 1A serious disagreement or argument, typically a protracted one.

    ‘the eternal conflict between the sexes’
    • ‘doctors often come into conflict with politicians’
    • ‘At present, the reform agenda had been derailed by the protracted conflict between the government and the legislative body, he said.’
    • ‘At the root of the culture war is a conflict between theism and atheism’
    • ‘There is a real conflict between the industrial and political wings of the labour movement.’
    • ‘Japan is then in the throes of a conflict between rich industrialists keen on quickly modernising the nation and the samurai clans trying to retain the old order.’
    • ‘In the past the discussion was always about the conflict between the industry minister and the education minister.’
    • ‘This is a battle over the right to call this conflict a conflict between two peoples: one that is oppressed, and the other that is denying them their right to be free.’
    • ‘The torture situation is an external conflict, a conflict between the subject and his tormentor.’
    • ‘Over the next few years there would emerge the most serious conflict between the judiciary and the executive that has ever occurred in Australian history.’
    • ‘With a square conflict between two federal appeals courts, the secret hearing issue appears ripe for Supreme Court resolution.’
    • ‘This conflict is like a conflict between two sons in a family.’
    • ‘Those chapters use gender issues to illustrate the conflict between universalism and cultural relativism.’
    • ‘The battle symbolises the ongoing conflict between the universal forces of creation and destruction.’
    • ‘In conclusion, I turn to other, more recent expressions of the conflict between the two cultures.’
    • ‘I think there is serious conflict between science and most religions.’
    • ‘The problems with Wi-Fi Hotspots are symptomatic of the fundamental conflict between the cellular phone industry and the rest of our society and economy.’
    • ‘My own present church was a church plant more or less birthed after a period of bitter and protracted conflict between the pastor and some board members at his former church.’
    • ‘We see the toll in the conflict between nurses and physicians when there is disagreement about the goals of care.’
    • ‘But it is not right for the president to make such a remark openly because it has already given rise to a serious conflict among politicians and has had ill effects.’
    • ‘But, over time, this control diminished, spurring the conflict between the old and new leadership out into the open.’
    • ‘In fact the conflict is so serious as to make the evidence of a witness retained on that basis inherently suspect and perhaps even valueless.’
    dispute, quarrel, squabble, disagreement, difference of opinion, dissension
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    1. 1.1A prolonged armed struggle.
      ‘regional conflicts’
      • ‘More than 300,000 child soldiers are fighting in armed conflicts in more than thirty countries worldwide.’
      • ‘Fighting in an armed conflict does not constitute murder, or aiding an ‘enemy’.’
      • ‘The recent local wars and armed conflicts taught us to pay special attention to the paratroopers' armaments.’
      • ‘An analysis of the local wars and armed conflicts suggests that air force invariably defeated air defense forces.’
      • ‘This author believes that the problem of employing the Navy in local wars and armed conflicts needs further study.’
      • ‘This will probably also be characteristic of armed conflicts and local wars in any strategic sectors.’
      • ‘A prolonged conflict would drive up gasoline and other prices, which would add to the cost of transporting most products.’
      • ‘More than a million people were displaced during the armed conflict.’
      • ‘Australia was not born of a blood-soaked conflict or struggle to be free from oppression.’
      • ‘The communication system should ensure reliable and effective command and control of troops in the course of an armed conflict.’
      • ‘It is even harder to hope for success in military actions on a larger scale, like an armed conflict escalating into a local war.’
      • ‘This theory does rely upon a swift resolution, and a prolonged conflict would have an equally opposite and negative reaction to the rebound in the global economy and stock markets.’
      • ‘Here are some articles from the Geneva Convention that deal with the protection of civilians in armed conflicts.’
      • ‘Yet the world does need to see and understand its armed conflicts.’
      • ‘It should impose martial law or state of emergency in the zones of armed conflicts and antiterrorism operations.’
      • ‘The perception of the lineup and balance of forces and the character of future armed conflicts is beginning to change.’
      • ‘For millennia, Earth had served as an arena, the battleground for an unrelenting conflict between the forces of heaven and hell.’
      • ‘For the remainder of 1899, the war was a conventional conflict between the American and Republican armies.’
      • ‘I see perhaps a protracted conflict against various terrorist organizations and nations that harbor them.’
      • ‘A public conference next week will look at reconciliation and rebuilding after serious conflicts.’
      war, armed conflict, action, military action, campaign, battle, fighting, fight, confrontation, armed confrontation, clash, armed clash, engagement, encounter, struggle, armed struggle, hostilities
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    2. 1.2mass noun A state of mind in which a person experiences a clash of opposing feelings or needs.
      ‘bewildered by her own inner conflict, she could only stand there feeling vulnerable’
      • ‘To experience conflict with a therapist and learn to resolve it is often the path out of depression.’
      • ‘These issues were salient in the lives of these teens and were conducive to both the exploration of alternatives and the experience of conflict.’
      • ‘There was a positive correlation between conflict and depression, anxiety, and stress.’
      • ‘Anxiety, frustration and conflict are a part of life and will cause children some psychological problems at one time or another.’
      • ‘The goal of their study was to test a model of the relationships between time, conflict and psychological distress.’
    3. 1.3A serious incompatibility between two or more opinions, principles, or interests.
      ‘there was a conflict between his business and domestic life’
      • ‘For the very same people to firstly decide on that and then be the principal beneficiaries of its policies and money is a serious conflict of interest.’
      • ‘Of course, as I reported a couple of weeks ago, the board has a serious conflict of interest on its hands.’
      • ‘Directors who are aware of a conflict of interest in any proposed contract are required to draw it to the attention of the board, but may thereafter take part in any vote on the matter.’
      • ‘The entire subject would become a conflict of interest.’
      • ‘And that is too heavy a reliance on commission-based payments, on payments that introduce a conflict of interest.’
      • ‘Indeed, we could probably argue that their existing costs were already too high, and that takes us back to a ministerial conflict of interest.’
      • ‘It also questions whether there is a conflict of interest if the administrators become involved in the much-rumoured management buy-out.’
      • ‘But mothers are faced with a tragic conflict of interest that no amount of wishful thinking or social engineering or wilful blindness can resolve.’
      • ‘Even now, insiders fear the application will be called in by the Executive because of a potential conflict of interest at the council in its role as planning authority.’
      • ‘It's just one of the difficult ways that they have to confront the conflict between the rights of the defendant and national security.’
      • ‘For me, all fantasy writing is specifically about one conflict, the conflict between the way we think the world is and the way we feel it ought to be.’
      • ‘The last, for instance, explores the conflict between cultural traditions and powerful assimilative tendencies.’
      • ‘The deep linking controversy highlights a fundamental conflict between community and commerce.’
      • ‘Mike was experiencing a serious conflict between his own deeply held beliefs and a blooming awareness that the real world might not conform to those beliefs after all.’
      • ‘This world is one in which there is a conflict between historical culture, the impulses of the individual body and the intensities of inner experience.’
      • ‘Unless we control the conflict between profit and health, the number of uninsured and under served will continue to grow.’
      • ‘The evolution versus creation controversy is really a conflict between two histories of death.’
      • ‘The conflict between this culture and their background isn't explored clearly.’
      • ‘The conflict between the respective positions creates a serious issue which, in my view, can be determined properly only after a trial.’
      • ‘The artificial conflict between formalist art with its hermetic integrity and content art with its higher purpose of social change seems to be evoked.’
      clash, incompatibility, incongruity, lack of congruence, friction, opposition, mismatch, variance, difference, divergence, contradiction, inconsistency, discrepancy, divided loyalties
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verb

[no object]

  • Be incompatible or at variance; clash.

    ‘parents' and children's interests sometimes conflict’
    • ‘the date for the match conflicted with a religious festival’
    • ‘On the basis of existing trials, such a trial would be ethical because present evidence is conflicting.’
    • ‘National guidance derived from the records of multiple organisations was conflicting.’
    • ‘However the two fundamental rights must not be seen as inherently conflicting.’
    • ‘The effect of alcohol on fertility is not clear as the results of studies are conflicting.’
    • ‘I auditioned but had to withdraw because it conflicted with my photo contract.’
    • ‘Here, we should not assume that economic interests necessarily conflicted with love interests.’
    • ‘This later evidence conflicted with known global migration data, and the materials were sent to four independent labs for dating.’
    • ‘They maintained the case had not been made for the court, which conflicted with the protection of human rights and a liberal democracy.’
    • ‘Many people strongly opposed the idea of evolution because it conflicted with their religious convictions.’
    • ‘The proposals also conflicted with the national park's Local Plan policies which protect conservation areas.’
    • ‘She should not have been treated using a local anaesthetic because it conflicted with drugs she was using for hernia and heart problems.’
    • ‘Abortion rights activists said it conflicted with three decades of Supreme Court precedent.’
    • ‘This would, of course, have conflicted with church services and Sunday worship.’
    • ‘What he instilled in students was responsibility for, and courage in, our own ideas, even when they conflicted with his own.’
    • ‘Their explanations, however, still conflicted with some documents written at the time.’
    • ‘The judge held that the development manifestly conflicted with the allocation of land in the development plan.’
    • ‘The rising expectations of all classes conflicted with the need to reduce government expenditure.’
    • ‘I think it is incredibly difficult for teenagers who are bombarded with conflicting messages.’
    • ‘In order to reconcile these two conflicting beliefs, we would have to seek the truth.’
    • ‘There were also conflicting reports about the reasons for the suspect's arrest.’
    contradictory, incompatible, inconsistent, irreconcilable, incongruous, contrary, opposite, opposing, opposed, antithetical, clashing, discordant, differing, different, divergent, discrepant, varying, disagreeing, contrasting
    clash, be incompatible, be inconsistent, be incongruous, be in opposition, be at variance, vary, be at odds, be in conflict, come into conflict, differ, diverge, disagree, contrast, collide
    View synonyms

Origin

Late Middle English from Latin conflict- ‘struck together, fought’, from the verb confligere, from con- ‘together’ + fligere ‘to strike’; the noun is via Latin conflictus ‘a contest’.