discord

discord n Discord, strife, conflict, contention, dissension, difference, variance mean a state or condition marked by disagreement and lack of harmony or the acts or circumstances which manifest such a state or condition.

Discord implies not only a want of harmony or of concord between persons or between things but also, usually, a positive clashing which manifests itself in personal relations by quarreling, factiousness, or antagonism, in relations between sounds by a resulting dissonance or unpleasant noise, and in relations between other things that are incongruous or incompatible by creating unpleasant impressions or mental disturbance

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they were firm and understanding friends. I know of but one approach to discord in their relations— Repplier

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in this state of enlightenment there is no more discord between the will, the intellect, and the feelings, and the objects of our reverence— Inge

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the seeker after truth . . . must disclaim responsibility for the way in which his discoveries fit into the general scheme of things. For the moment they may seem to produce discord rather than harmony— Crothers

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Strife throws the emphasis on a struggle for superiority rather than on the incongruity or incompatibility of the persons or things that disagree. It applies chiefly to relations between persons, and when used in reference to things it is nearly always figurative. Also, the term may imply any of widely different motives for the struggle (as rivalry, emulation, difference in opinion, disagreement, deep antagonism, or violent hostility)

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domestic fury and fierce civil strife— Shak.

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yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife among themselves— Milton

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I strove with none, for none was worth my strife— Landor

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a face in which a strange strife of wishes, for and against, was apparent— Hardy

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the crowd swells, laughing and pushing toward the quays in friendly strife— Lowell

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Conflict (see also CONTEST) implies a clashing and a struggle, but it stresses not the aim or end but the process, the uncertainty of the outcome, or the trials, difficulties, or torments it involves. In this sense the term may apply to actual battles or wars, but usually it applies to a mental, moral, or spiritual state of a person or group of persons or to its outward manifestations

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pale with conflict of contending hopes and fears— Cowper

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no more for him life's stormy conflicts— Whitman

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the conflict of passion, temper, or appetite with the external duties— T. S. Eliot

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The term is also used in a milder sense to imply an incompatibility between or the impossibility of reconciling two things which come together at the same time or upon the one person

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a conflict of engagements

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a conflict of duties

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Contention may be used in place of strife in any of the senses of the latter word; more often it applies to strife that manifests itself in quarreling, disputing, or controversy; it may even be applied to a condition of affairs marked by altercations or brawls

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cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease— Prov 22:10

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let the long contention cease! Geese are swans, and swans are geese, let them have it how they will— Arnold

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we were never friends. There was always a certain contention between us— Max Peacock

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Dissension may imply discord or strife between persons or parties, but it lays greater stress on a breach between them than do any of the preceding words; thus, to say that there is dissension in a church or political party is to imply that it is broken up into contentious or discordant factions

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France, torn by religious dissensions, was never a formidable opponent— Macaulay

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left the seeds of philosophic dissension vigorous in French soil— Belloc

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Difference (often in the plural) and variance usually imply a clash between persons or things owing to dissimilarity in opinion, character, or nature that makes for discord or strife. The terms may also suggest apparent or actual incompatibility or impossibility of reconciliation

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Nationalists have always used force to settle their differences— Fowler

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I might very possibly have quarreled and skirmished with anyone of less unvarying kindness and good temper. As it is, we have never had a word or thought of difference— Henning

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to remain at variance with his wife seemed to him . . . almost a disaster— Conrad

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I never saw a child with such an instinct for preventing variance, or so full of tact— Yonge

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sectarian variances in the town had delayed the erection of a house of worship— Amer. Guide Series: Vt.

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Analogous words: incompatibility, incongruity, inconsonance, inconsistency, uncongeniality, discrepancy (see corresponding adjectives at INCONSONANT): antagonism, hostility, *enmity, rancor, animosity, antipathy

Contrasted words: *harmony, consonance, accord