conflict

Noun

• a disagreement or argument about something important
  • he had a dispute with his wife
    
  • there were irreconcilable differences
    
  • the familiar conflict between Republicans and Democrats
    

• opposition in a work of drama or fiction between characters or forces (especially an opposition that motivates the development of the plot)
  • this form of conflict is essential to Mann's writing
    

• an incompatibility of dates or events
  • he noticed a conflict in the dates of the two meetings
    

• a state of opposition between persons or ideas or interests
  • his conflict of interest made him ineligible for the post
    
  • a conflict of loyalties
    

• a hostile meeting of opposing military forces in the course of a war
  • Grant won a decisive victory in the battle of Chickamauga
    
  • he lost his romantic ideas about war when he got into a real engagement
    

• opposition between two simultaneous but incompatible feelings
  • he was immobilized by conflict and indecision
    

• an open clash between two opposing groups (or individuals)
  • the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph--Thomas Paine
    
  • police tried to control the battle between the pro- and anti-abortion mobs
    

Verb

• go against, as of rules and laws
  • He ran afoul of the law
    
  • This behavior conflicts with our rules
    

• be in conflict
  • The two proposals conflict!
    

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  dispute , difference , difference of opinion , battle , fight , engagement , struggle , run afoul , infringe , contravene