as in discord
a lack of agreement or harmony
there was friction between the two sides of the family
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Recent Examples of friction
For instance, the Euler equations assume that fluids flow with no internal friction, or viscosity.
—
Quanta Magazine, 9 Jan. 2026
In another sign of friction, the union profile photo on Instagram as of Friday morning was an hourglass.
—Jacob Feldman, Sportico.com, 9 Jan. 2026
When the system adds friction, families fall through the cracks.
—Uché Blackstock, Time, 8 Jan. 2026
The friction is subtle at first.
—Katerin Le Folcalvez, Fortune, 8 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for friction
Recent Examples of Synonyms for friction
Noun
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But when her latest husband, discord spirit Raksh, provokes the council’s wrath, Amina must clean up his blunder, contend with Marjana’s demands for the truth…and figure out who on her crew is plotting a mutiny.—
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Turning Point spokesperson Andrew Kolvet framed the discord as a healthy debate about the future of the movement, an uncomfortable but necessary process of finding consensus.—
Noun
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After more than a century of plunder and strife, under tyrants as diverse as King Leopold II of Belgium and Mobutu Sese Seko, the present-day DRC still occupies the dark heart of the continent in much of the world’s imagination.—
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Located in the Horn of Africa, Somalia is one of the world’s poorest nations and has been beset by chronic strife and insecurity exacerbated by multiple natural disasters, including severe droughts, for decades.—
Noun
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Authorities said the display was likely the result of a conflict between criminal groups operating in the area.—
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Calvo said the city’s contract with consulting firm NCGA LLC raises potential conflict-of-interest concerns.—
Noun
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The sport of off-roading suffers from a fundamental discordance: The desire to get out into nature and the irreparable harm inherent in the process of off-roading.—
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Many of the tunes including sprawling intros and jam sessions, all melded together with discordance, reverb and instrumental solos.—
Noun
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Elordi plays Dorrigo Evans, an army surgeon who becomes a war hero after enduring some time in captivity in a Japanese Prisoner of War camp.—
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The Carolina Panthers lost the game but won a war Saturday night, rekindling the fervor that their fan base felt 10 years ago.—
Noun
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The right’s schisms were on full display during AmericaFest, Turning Point USA’s annual conference, which took place in Phoenix this past weekend.—
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But in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a painful schism emerged between them, one that led them to stop speaking to one another for an extended period of time.—
Noun
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The discordancy is so intriguing — like learning that Katharine Graham went to nude encounter sessions at Esalen, or Alan Greenspan was once in a Lynyrd Skynyrd cover band.—
Noun
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The projects included restoring two bread ovens at a bakery destroyed by Russian warfare, and purchasing a delivery van so that bread could reach more people.—
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Its utility, for autonomous command and control, has application across the seabed warfare domain and aligns with the UK Government’s vision for a ‘Hybrid Navy’ and the Royal Navy’s Long Term Capability Plan for MCM mission systems integration, according to the Thales.—
Cite this Entry
“Friction.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/friction. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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