Quick Definition
μάχη, ης, ἡ n.f. strife, contention, quarrel
Strong's Definition
from 3164; a battle, i.e. (figuratively) controversy
KJV Usage: fighting, strive, striving
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament
noun, f. | -ης | μάχομαι
39.23 · Hostility, Strife · Strife, Struggle
severe clash, struggle, fight serious conflict, either physical or non-physical, but clearly intensive and bitter In order to suggest something of the intensity of conflict in μάχομαι and μάχη, it may be useful in some instances to employ similes in the rendering of these terms, for example, ‘they opposed one another just as though they were actually fighting one another’ or ‘they are fighting, as it were.’
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament © United Bible Societies, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
μάχη, -ης, 9, [μάχομαι; fr. Hom. down], Sept. several times for 3°, 101, ete.; α fight, combat; 1. of those in arms, @ battle. 2. of persons at variance, disputants, ete., strife, contention; a quarrel: 2 Co. vii. 5; 2 Tim. ii. 23; Jas. iv. 1; about the law, Tit. iii. 9.
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
μάχη machē 4x
a fight, battle, conflict; in NT contention, dispute, strife, controversy, 2 Cor. 7:5; 2 Tim. 2:23; Tit. 3:9; Jas. 4:1*
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
μάχη, -ης, ἡ
(< μάχομαι), [in LXX chiefly for רִיב;]
a fight.
a strife, contention, quarrel: II Co 7:5, II Ti 2:23, Ja 4:1; pl., Tit 3:9.†
Trench — Synonyms of the New Testament
Πόλεμος and μάχη occur often together (Homer, 10. 1. 177; y. 891; Plato, Tim. 19 6; Job xxxviii. 23; Jam. iv. 1); and in like manner πολεμεῖν and μάχεσθαι. There is the same difference between them as between our own ‘war’ and ‘battle’ ; 6 πόλεμος Πελοποννησιακός, the Peloponnesian War ; ἡ ἐν Μαραθῶνι μάχη, the battle of Marathon. Dealing with the words in this antithesis, namely that πόλεμος embraces the whole course of hostilities, μάχη the actual shock in arms of hostile armies, Pericles, dissuading the Athenians from yielding to the demands of the Spartans, admits that these with their allies were a match for all the other Greeks together in a single battle, but denies that they would retain the same superiority in a war, that is, against such as had their preparations of another kind (μάχῃ μὲν γὰρ μιᾷ πρὸς ἅπαντας Ἕλληνας δυνατοὶ Πελοποννήσιοι καὶ οἱ ξύμμαχοι ἀντισχεῖν, πολεμεῖν δὲ μὴ πρὸς ὁμοίαν ἀντιπαρασκευὴν ἀδύνατοι, Thucydides, i. 141). We may compare Tacitus, Germ. 80 : ‘Alios ad prelium ire videas, Chattos ad bellum.’ But besides this, while πόλεμος and πολεμεῖν remain true to their primary meaning, and are not transferred to any secondary, it is altogether otherwise with μάχη and μάχεσθαι. Contentions which fall very short of the shock of arms are continually designated by these words. There are μάχαι of every kind: ἐρωτικαί (Xenophon, Hiero, i. 35); νομικαί (Tit. iii. 9; cf. 2 Tim. ii. 23) ; λογομαχίαι (1 Tim. vi. 4) ; σκιαμαχίαι : and compare John vi. 52; 2 Tim. ii. 24; Prov. xxvi. 20, 21. Eustathius (on Homer, Jl. i. 177) expresses these differences well: τὸ πόλεμοί τε μάχαι τε, ἢ ἐκ παραλλήλου δηλοῖ τὸ αὐτό, ἢ καὶ διαφορά τις ἔστι ταῖς λέξεσιν, εἴγε μάχεται μέν τις καὶ λόγοις, ὡς καὶ ἡ λογομαχία δηλοῖ. καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ ποιητὴς μετ᾽ λίγα 302 SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT § Lxxxvu φησί, μαχεσσαμένω ἐπέεσσι (ver. 304). Kai ἄλλως δὲ μάχη μέν, αὐτὴ ἡ τῶν ἀνδρῶν συνεισβολή 6 δὲ πόλεμος καὶ ἐπὶ παρατάξεων καὶ μαχίμου καιροῦ λέγεται. Tittmann (De Synon. in Ν. T. p. 66) : ‘Conveniunt igitur in eo quod dimicationem, contentionem, pugnam denotant, sed πόλεμος et πολεμεῖν de pugna que manibus fit proprie dicuntur, μάχη autem et μάχεσθαι de qudcunque contentione, etiam animorum, etiamsi non ad verbera et ceedes pervenerit. In illis igitur ipsa pugna cogitatur, in his sufficit cogitare de contentione, quam pugna plerumque sequitur.’ I may observe before quitting this subject that στάσις (Mark xv. 7; Luke xxiii. 19; Acts xxiv. 5; cf. Sophocles, Gidip. Col. 1228), insurrection or sedition, is by Plato distinguished from πόλεμος, in that the one is a civil and the other a foreign strife (Rep. v. 470 δ); ἐπὶ yap τῇ τοῦ οἰκείου ἐχθρᾷ στάσις κέκληται, ἐπὶ δὲ τῇ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων πόλεμος.
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
μάχη. The weaker sense οἵ μάχη, ‘contention,’ ‘ quarrel,” which alone is found in the NT (except perhaps in Jas 4'), may be illustrated from the curious mantic P Ry] I. 2820 (iv/A.D.) ἐὰν ὃ τρίτος ἅληται ἀηδίαν σημαίνι Kal μάχας | ἕξει διὰ θῆλυ, ἔχειν δηλοῖ ἔπειτα χαράς᾽ εὔχου Aci, ‘if the third toe quiver, it signifies trouble, and the man will have strife on account of a female, and afterwards gladness: pray to Dionysus” (Ed.): cf. from the inscrr. Sy// 737 (= 1109) 7 (before A.D. 178) μάχης δὲ ἐάν τις ἄρξηται ἢ εὑρεθῇ τις ἀκοσμῶν, and Aazbe/ 5225 (Thessalonica) where a claim is made of a man’s having lived without quarrelling with his companions—€[Tdp ]o[tjow δίχα μάχης ζήσας. In PSI I. 71* (vi/A.pD.) the word is used of what was evidently a serious brawl between two men—paxnv κεινήσαντες πρὸς On the μάχιμοι, native troops, see Chrest. I. i. p. 382, Meyer Aeerwesen, Ὁ. 64 ff.: the term was applied not only to regular soldiers, but to the armed attendants of officials, e.g. P Tebt I. 112%! (B.c. 112) with the editors’ note.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — Greek-English Lexicon
μάχη (machē) — quarrel. μᾰχ-η, ἡ, (μάχομαι) battle, combat, frequently in [Refs 8th c.BC+]; sometimes of single combat, [Refs]; μ. καὶ δηϊοτής[Refs 5th c.BC+] fight a battle, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἀντιάζειν τινὶ μάχαν[Refs 5th c.BC+]; μ. συμβάλλειν τινί engage battle with.., [Refs 5th c.BC+]; διὰ μάχης τινὶ ἀπικέσθαι, ἔρχεσθαι, ἥκειν, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; εἰς μάχην πρός τινα ἐλθεῖν, μολεῖν, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; μάχῃ κρατῆσαι conquer in battle, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; μάχη τινός battle with an enemy, Αἴαντος δ᾽ ἀλέεινε μ. [Refs 8th c.BC+]: plural, strifes, ἔρις τε.. πόλεμοί τε μάχαι τε [Refs 8th c.BC+]: generally, contention, strife, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; μ. νομικαί [NT]
2. ={ἀγών}, contest, as for a prize in the games, [Refs 5th c.BC+]
3. struggle, μηχανή τε πολλὴ καὶ μ. ἦν περί τινος [Refs 5th c.BC+]
II. mode of fighting, way of battle, ἡ μ. σφέων ἦν ἀπ᾽ ἵππων [Refs 5th c.BC+]
III. field of battle, interpolated in [Refs]
IV. in Logic, contradiction, inconsistency, [Refs 1st c.AD+]