What does "strife" mean?

Strife: Exertion or contention for superiority; contest of emulation, either by intellectual or physical efforts. Doting about questions and strifes of words. 1 Tim. vi.

Additional senses

  1. 2.Thus gods contended -- noble strife -Who most should ease the wants of life. Congreve.
  2. 3.Altercation; violent contention; fight; battle. Twenty of them fought in this black strife. Shak. These vows, thus granted, raised a strife above Betwixt the god of war and queen of love. Dryden.
  3. 4.That which is contended against; occasion of contest. [Obs.] "Lamenting her unlucky strife." Spenser. See Contention.

Sources