Strife means bitter conflict, fighting, or discord between people or groups. When there's strife in a classroom, students might be arguing constantly, forming hostile groups, or refusing to cooperate with each other. The word suggests something more serious than ordinary disagreements: strife involves ongoing tension and hostility that makes normal life difficult.

You might read about civil strife in history books, where different groups within a country fight over power or resources. Families can experience strife when members stop speaking to each other over old grudges. A workplace filled with strife is one where people undermine each other instead of working together.

Unlike a quick argument that gets resolved, strife tends to linger and poison relationships. When teachers talk about ending the strife in a classroom, they mean creating peace and cooperation again. Strife makes everything harder because energy that could go toward learning, creating, or building gets wasted on conflict instead.