different between affray vs strife

English

Alternative forms

• afray

Etymology

From Middle English affraien (“to terrify, frighten”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman afrayer (“to terrify, disquiet, disturb”) and Old French effreer, esfreer (“to disturb, remove the peace from”) (compare modern French effrayer), from Vulgar Latin *exfrid?re or from es- (“ex-”) + freer (“to secure, secure the peace”), from Frankish *friþu (“security, peace”), from Proto-Germanic *friþuz (“peace”), from *frij?n? (“to free; to love”), from Proto-Indo-European *pr?y-, *pr?y- (“to like, love”). Cognate with Old High German fridu (“peace”), Old English friþ (“peace, frith”), Old English fr?od (“peace, friendship”), German Friede (“peace”). Compare also afear. More at free, friend.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??f?e?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Verb

affray (third-person singular simple present affrays, present participle affraying, simple past and past participle affrayed)

1. (archaic, transitive) To startle from quiet; to alarm.
2. (archaic, transitive) To frighten; to scare; to frighten away.

Related terms

• afraid

Noun

affray (countable and uncountable, plural affrays)

1. The act of suddenly disturbing anyone; an assault or attack.
   • 2015, 8 November, "Rugby league journalist Gary Carter critically ill after Bethnal Green attack", BBC News [1]

     A 22-year-old man was also arrested in connection with the incident for affray towards attending paramedics.

2. A tumultuous assault or quarrel.
3. The fighting of two or more persons, in a public place, to the terror of others.

4. (obsolete) Terror.

Synonyms

• fray, brawl
• alarm, terror, fright

Related terms

• fray

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English strif, stryf, striffe, from Old French estrif, noun derived from estriver, from Frankish *str?ban; compare Dutch strijven. More at strive.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /st?a?f/
• Rhymes: -a?f

Noun

strife (countable and uncountable, plural strifes)

1. Striving; earnest endeavor; hard work.
2. Exertion or contention for superiority, either by physical or intellectual means.
   • 1595: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

     From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
     A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
     Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
     Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
3. Bitter conflict, sometimes violent.

   Synonyms: altercation, contention, discord, wrangle

   • 1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter xvii:

     A few observations about the interpretation of vows or pledges may not be out of place here. Interpretation of pledges has been a fruitful source of strife all the world over. No matter how explicit the pledge, people will turn and twist the text to suit their own purposes.

4. (colloquial) A trouble of any kind.
5. (obsolete) That which is contended against; occasion of contest.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene^[1]:

     He ?pide lamenting her unlucky ?trife,

Derived terms

• strifeful
• strifeless
• strife-ridden
• trouble and strife

Related terms

• strive

Translations

References

• strife in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• Fister, firest, firste, fister, freits, refits, resift, rifest, sifter