What does conflicting mean?
"Conflicting" is an adjective describing things — usually statements, accounts, pieces of evidence, feelings, or interests — that are in mutual opposition and cannot be reconciled or simultaneously true. When witnesses give conflicting accounts of an event, their versions contradict one another; when research yields conflicting results, the findings point in incompatible directions. The word also applies to internal states: a person may experience conflicting emotions, such as grief mixed with relief, or conflicting loyalties between family and career. Derived from the verb "conflict," whose Latin roots mean "to strike together," the word vividly implies a clash. It appears most often attributively before nouns like "reports" and "evidence," where it typically signals doubt, uncertainty, or unresolved dispute. Because it precisely names disagreement between sources or within oneself, it is an indispensable term in journalism, law, science, and everyday discussion of difficult decisions.
In mutual opposition or disagreement; not able to be reconciled or simultaneously true.
"The two departments issued conflicting instructions about the deadline."
Almost always used attributively, directly before the noun it modifies.
Present participle of "conflict": to be in serious disagreement, opposition, or incompatibility.
"Their schedules conflict so badly that they can never meet."
Used chiefly in progressive tenses, as in "are conflicting."
The witnesses all saw the same crash — yet every account contradicted the others: a classic case of conflicting reports.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of conflicting
"Conflicting" is the present-participle form of the verb "conflict," which entered English in the late Middle Ages from the Latin verb "confligere," meaning "to strike together" — formed from "com-" (together) and "fligere" (to strike). The same Latin root "fligere" produced related English words including "afflict" and "inflict," which share its sense of striking or dashing against something. The adjective use, describing mutually opposed statements or feelings, developed naturally from the verb's sense of being in direct opposition.
Related word forms
How conflicting is actually used
Primarily used attributively before nouns such as "reports," "evidence," "accounts," "advice," "signals," and "emotions." It is common in journalism and formal writing; it carries a neutral connotation but often signals uncertainty or unreliability when describing testimony or data.
Easily confused with conflicting
"Conflicted" describes a single person torn between opposing feelings or choices, while "conflicting" describes two or more things that are themselves in disagreement with each other.