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Glite Dictionary
🪨 By rubbing ⚡ With conflict
frictionally

frictionally

8.3
People act in ways that cause disagreement or tension
  • adverb
  • /ˈfrɪkʃənəli/
translation icon : conflictivamente
  • Negotiations proceeded frictionally, with both sides unwilling to compromise.

Examples

  • The merger was handled frictionally, leading to ongoing disputes among staff.

  • The political parties debated frictionally, as neither was willing to shift their position.

  • The departments worked frictionally at first, but eventually found common ground.

  • The two teams worked frictionally during the negotiation.

  • They often disagree frictionally over project deadlines.

  • The discussions progressed frictionally, creating tension among the group members.

  • The committee worked frictionally, resulting in a breakdown of communication between members.

Synonyms

divisively
vsfrictionally
1 6.2

Causing disagreement or anger between people and groups

creates tension or conflict without necessarily causing split
contentiously
vsfrictionally
1 7.4

In a way that causes strong disagreement

raises tension and conflict rather than just debate
fractiously
vsfrictionally
9.1

Acting angrily and impatiently

causes disagreement through group conflict rather than personal irritability

Surface Forms

frictionally positive

Morphology

frictionally = frictional (semi-transparent) = friction + al + ly

The social or interpersonal sense is a metaphorical extension of physical 'friction', so the derivation is understandable but relies on figurative mapping.

Etymology

Frictionally comes from the word friction, from an old Latin word fricare meaning 'to rub', and people used the picture of things 'rubbing' to show tension between people. So, frictionally can mean 'in a way that causes disagreement or tension'.