different between contrariety vs strife

English

Alternative forms

• contrarietie (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle French contrariété, from Late Latin contrarietas, from contrarius, from contra (“against”). Compare contrary.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /k?nt???????ti/

Noun

contrariety (countable and uncountable, plural contrarieties)

1. Opposition or contrariness; cross-purposes, marked contrast.
   • 1759, Laurence Sterne, The Life & Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Penguin 2003, p.61:

     This contrariety of humours betwixt my father and my uncle, was the source of many a fraternal squabble.

   • 2011, Tim Blanning, "The reinvention of the night", Times Literary Supplement, 21 Sep.:

     At the heart of his argument is the contrariety between day and night, light and dark.

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