Category:Strife

Strife, n. Etym: [of. estrif. See strive.]

1. The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [archaic] shak.

2. Exertion or contention for superiority; contest of emulation, Either by intellectual or physical efforts. Doting about questions and strifes of words. 1 tim. vi. 4. Thus gods contended -- noble strife -who most should ease the wants Of life. Congreve.

3. Altercation; violent contention; fight; battle. Twenty of them fought in this black strife. Shak. These vows, thus granted, raised a strife above betwixt the god of War and queen of love. Dryden.

4. That which is contended against; occasion of contest. [obs.] "lamenting her unlucky strife." Spenser.

Syn. -- contest; struggle; quarrel. See contention.