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May 2010-In Case You Were WonderingWhen actress Sandra Bullock filed for divorce late last month, her legal papers cited discord or conflict of personalities as reasons the marriage had become insupportable. As a result, discord rose high on the list for a few days. Words that seem to have a specific technical, legal, or medical use are frequently looked up when they are heard in the news. In case you were wondering, discord and conflict are synonyms for a state or condition marked by a lack of agreement or harmony. Discord implies an intrinsic or essential lack of harmony that produces quarreling, factiousness, or antagonism. Conflict suggests an irreconcilability (as of duties or desires). Discord and conflict keep company with contention and dissension. Contention applies to strife that shows itself in quarreling, disputing, or controversy, while dissension implies strife or discord and stresses a division into factions. For more on the synonyms of discord see the synonym paragraph at the end of the entry in the Unabridged. |