MEANING
Marked by opposing interests or forces that create tension, disagreement, or struggle.
Use it for
describing a relationship shaped by antagonism; contrasting cooperative and adversarial processes; analyzing incompatible interests within an institution; showing that tension is part of a social structureDescribes a relationship or process structured by opposition, not merely two statements that happen to disagree. Writing functions: Causation / Relationships, Analysis / Interpretation.
Words that belong together
- a conflictual relationship
- conflictual interactions
- a conflictual process
On the page
The reform altered the rules without resolving the conflictual relationship between the two agencies.
Her analysis treats the household as a site of both cooperative and conflictual interactions.
Word forms
- Base
- conflictual
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Usage notes
Adjective. Natural comparison, where needed: more conflictual, most conflictual. Do not invent an -er or -est form. Register: academic. Commonness: uncommon (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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