different between dissension vs strife

English

Etymology

From Old French dissension, from Latin dissensio.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??s?n??n/
• Hyphenation: dis?sen?sion

Noun

dissension (countable and uncountable, plural dissensions)

1. An act of expressing dissent, especially spoken.
2. Strong disagreement; a contention or quarrel; discord.
   • 1843, E. A. Poe, Morning on the Wissahiccon

     The natural scenery of America has often been contrasted, in its general features as well as in detail, with the landscape of the Old World—more especially of Europe—and not deeper has been the enthusiasm, than wide the dissension, of the supporters of each region.

   • 1998, Deborah J. Bennett, Randomness, Harvard University Press, p. 34f.

     In Biblical times the resort to chance was an agreed-upon way of making many decisions because it ended dissension among opposing, often powerful, parties.

Translations

French

Etymology

From Latin dissensio.

Noun

dissension f (plural dissensions)

1. dissension

Further reading

• “dissension” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• dessinions

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