fray vs strife

fray

noun
  • Conflict, disagreement. 

  • A heated argument; a war of words. 

  • A noisy commotion, especially resulting from fighting; a brawl, a fight; also, a loud quarrel. 

  • A consequence of rubbing, unravelling, or wearing away; a fraying; also, a place where fraying has occurred. 

verb
  • To force or make (a path, way, etc.) through. 

  • To rub. 

  • Often followed by away, off, or out: to frighten or scare (someone or something) away. 

  • Of a person's mental strength, nerves, temper, etc.: to become exhausted or worn out. 

  • To assail or attack (someone or something); to drive (someone or something) away by attacking. 

  • To become unravelled or worn; to unravel. 

  • To be afraid or frightened; to fear. 

  • Of a deer: to rub (its antlers or head) against a tree, etc., to remove the velvet from antlers or to mark territory; also, to rub its antlers against (a tree, etc.) for that purpose. 

  • Of a deer: to rub its antlers against a tree, etc., to remove the velvet or to mark territory. 

  • To alarm or frighten (someone or something). 

  • To chase (someone or something) away; to disperse. 

  • To rub or wear away (something); to cause (something made of strands twisted or woven together, such as cloth or rope) to unravel through friction; also, to irritate (something) through chafing or rubbing; to chafe. 

  • To make an assault or attack; also, to create a disturbance; to brawl, to fight. 

strife

noun
  • Bitter conflict, sometimes violent. 

  • A trouble of any kind. 

  • Striving; earnest endeavor; hard work. 

  • Exertion or contention for superiority, either by physical or intellectual means. 

How often have the words fray and strife occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )