conflict

From Latin conflictus, past participle of confligere (“to strike together”), from com- (“together”) (a form of con-) + fligere (“to strike”).

• Noun
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒn.flɪkt/
  • (US) enPR: kŏn'flĭkt, IPA^(key): /ˈkɑn.flɪkt/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Verb
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /kənˈflɪkt/
  • (US) enPR: kənflĭkt', kŏn'flĭkt, IPA^(key): /kənˈflɪkt/, /ˈkɑn.flɪkt/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -ɪkt

conflict (countable and uncountable, plural conflicts)

1. A clash or disagreement, often violent, between two or more opposing groups or individuals.

   The conflict between the government and the rebels began three years ago.

   • 2013 July 19, Mark Tran, “Denied an education by war”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 1:

     One particularly damaging, but often ignored, effect of conflict on education is the proliferation of attacks on schools […] as children, teachers or school buildings become the targets of attacks. Parents fear sending their children to school. Girls are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence.

2. An incompatibility, as of two things that cannot be simultaneously fulfilled.

   I wanted to attend the meeting but there's a conflict in my schedule that day.

conflict (third-person singular simple present conflicts, present participle conflicting, simple past and past participle conflicted)

1. (intransitive) To be at odds (with); to disagree or be incompatible
   • 2014 March 2, Jan Morris, “Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Scott Anderson, review: A skilful account of T. E. Lawrence and his role in the painful birth of an emerging Middle East [print version: A rock in Arabia's shifting sands, 1 March 2014, p. R26]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review)‎^[1]:

     [T. E.] Lawrence said that in the end he felt himself to be fighting not for the imperial British but for the rebellious Arabs. All too often he conflicted with British bureaucratic fustiness.

2. (intransitive) To overlap (with), as in a schedule.

   Your conference call conflicts with my older one: please reschedule.

   It appears that our schedules conflict.

• conflicted

• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “conflict”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “conflict”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Borrowed from Latin cōnflīctus, past participle of confligere (“to strike together”), from com- (“together”) (a form of con-) + fligere (“to strike”).

• IPA^(key): /kɔnˈflɪkt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: con‧flict
• Rhymes: -ɪkt

conflict n (plural conflicten, diminutive conflictje n)

1. a conflict, clash or dispute

• conflictueus

• Afrikaans: konflik
• → Indonesian: konflik
• → West Frisian: konflikt

Borrowed from Latin conflictus.

conflict n (plural conflicte)

1. conflict