How to describe relations that are not good?

Question

Question 1 If someone's relations with any of their relatives (say father), are not good, what adjectives would be appropriate in the following cases:

1. They don't fight or have frequent quarrels yet do not interact too much with each other(but not because they dislike each other)

2. They have frequent fights, both of them dislike each other and so do not interact with each other.

3. For some reasons they have a great enmity with each other?

Question 2 What do we say to mean that someone's relations with their relatives are getting bad or worsening? Can we simply say that their relations are worsening or are getting worse.

Answer 1

• Strained

  William Beckett wrote a song about a strained relationship with her father.

• Tepid

• Lukewarm

• Soured

Answer 2

Consider "tense" for the first question.

tense: marked or causing agitation or uncomfortable feelings.

A tense relationship existed between the two teachers.

For 1.2, I would say they have a stormy relationship.

For 1.3, "hateful relationship" is what comes to mind.

For question #2, I would say their relationship is deteriorating.

deteriorate: to make or become worse or inferior in character, quality, value, etc.

My parents have been married 25 years but their relationship has deteriorated since my brother and I left home.

Answer 3

here is my shot at it:

1. they are NEUTRAL and INCONSIDERATE

2.their relationship is BITTER

3.ANIMOSITY

and for your last question, a relationship that gets worse, you can say that their relationship has reached a MORIBUND state (nearly dead or close to the end). you can also say that their relation is DILAPIDATED.

Answer 4

For the first case (near relations who don't interact much, but don't actively dislike each other) one might say the parties have grown apart or are distant (ie, “Emotionally unresponsive or unwilling to express genuine feelings”) or perhaps alienated.

Part of the description of the second case is self-contradictory; having frequent fights is not consistent with not interacting with each other. The word turbulent (“Violently disturbed or agitated; tempestuous, tumultuous”) sometimes is used of relationships marked by squabbling, bickering, fighting, disrespect, and dislike.

For the third case (near relations with enmity toward each other) the term estranged (“Having become a stranger, of one who formerly was close, as a relative, friend, lover, or spouse”) often is used. Wiktionary's usage note says:

[Estranged is a] relatively formal term ... the more colloquial alternative is “to not talk”, as in “I don’t talk to my mother”. A semi-formal alternative is not on speaking terms.

The definition and usage note for estranged suggest that the term would appropriately apply to the first case (where there is no dislike). But it is common for estranged to be used in cases where active dislike has grown up between parties, and many people may infer dislike when the word is used. So use of estranged in the first case may be marginal. Grown apart, on the other hand, does not imply dislike, and I think is unlikely to be misinterpreted.