Conflict
nounA serious disagreement, struggle, or incompatibility between people, ideas, or interests.
How to spell conflict
8 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce conflict
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does conflict mean?
- nounA serious disagreement, struggle, or incompatibility between people, ideas, or interests.
- verbTo be incompatible or at variance with something else.
Conflict in a sentence
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noun
The meeting was meant to resolve the ongoing conflict between the two departments.
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verb
The new policy seems to conflict with the rules we agreed last year.
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noun
A scheduling conflict meant she could not attend both events.
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verb
His account of events appeared to conflict with hers.
Where does conflict come from?
Language of origin: Latin
This word goes back to the Latin verb confligere, meaning 'to strike together' or 'to clash', which was formed from con- 'together' and the verb fligere 'to strike or dash'. Its past participle, conflictus, gave English the noun directly. The word entered English in the early 1400s, at first describing literal armed fighting and the clash of weapons, before broadening to cover any struggle, disagreement, or incompatibility, such as a conflict of interest or an emotional inner conflict. The same fligere root, meaning 'to strike', also lies behind 'inflict' (to strike a blow on someone) and 'afflict', which helps explain the shared spelling pattern. Because the stress shifts between the noun and the verb, the vowels sound vague, but the spelling stays the same: con-flict, with that single sturdy -flict at its core.
How the word is built
- con- (together)
- flict (from Latin fligere: to strike)
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