different between fray vs strife

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: fr?, IPA^(key): /f?e?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Etymology 1

From Middle English fraien, borrowed from Old French frayer, from Latin fric?re, present active infinitive of fric?.

Verb

fray (third-person singular simple present frays, present participle fraying, simple past and past participle frayed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To (cause to) unravel; used particularly for the edge of something made of cloth, or the end of a rope.

2. (intransitive, figuratively) To cause exhaustion, wear out (a person's mental strength).

   (Metaphorical use; nerves are visualised as strings)

3. (transitive, archaic) frighten; alarm

   • And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.

   • 1662, Henry More, An Antidote Against Atheism, Book II, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 63:

     "Besides, all the wit and Philosophy in the world can never demonstrate, that the killing and slaughtering of a Beast is anymore then the striking of a Bush where a Bird's Nest is, where you fray away the Bird, and then seize upon the empty Nest."

   • 1830, Isaac Taylor, The Natural History of Enthusiasm

     the many checks and reverses which belong to the common course of human life , usually fray it away from present scenes

4. (transitive) To bear the expense of; to defray.
   • 1631, Philip Massinger, The Emperor of the East

     The charge of my most curious and costly ingredients frayed, I shall acknowledge myself amply satisfied.

5. (intransitive) To rub.
   • 1808, Walter Scott, Hunting Song

Related terms

• friction
• fricative
• affricate
• dentifrice

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English frai, aphetic variant of affray.

Noun

fray (plural frays)

1. A fight or argument
2. (archaic) Fright.

Related terms

• affray

Translations

Spanish

Etymology

Apocope of fraile (“friar”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?f?ai/, [?f?ai?]

Noun

fray m (plural frayes)

1. friar

Abbreviations

• fr.

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