war
Organized, large-scale, armed conflict between countries or between national, ethnic, or other sizeable groups, usually but not always involving active engagement of military forces.
Noun
- Organized, large-scale, armed conflict between countries or between national, ethnic, or other sizeable groups, usually but not always involving active engagement of military forces.
- holy war; just war; civil war
- Come on, let vs deale wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to passe that when there falleth out any warre, they ioyne also vnto our enemies, and fight against vs, and so get them vp out of the land. - 1611,...
- And when yee shall heare of warres, and rumors of warres, be yee not troubled: For such things must needs be, but the end shall not be yet. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker,...
- A particular conflict of this kind.
- All human tribes glad token see In the close of the wars of Grant and Lee. - 1865, Herman Melville, The Surrender at Appomattox:
- A second challenge will be to implement, with our allies, a plan of stability in the Balkans, so that the region's bitter ethnic problems can no longer be exploited by dictators and Americans do not have to cross the...
- a war of succession... a war of attrition... the Cold War... World War III...
- Protracted armed conflict against irregular forces, particularly groups considered terrorists.
- Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated. - 2001 Sept. 20, George W. Bush, speech before...
- ...These wars are not going away. This is at least a generational struggle. - 2021 Sept. 8, Seth G. Jones, quoted in Chris Moody, "Twenty Years after 9/11, Did US Win Its ‘War on Terror’?" Al-Jazeera
- the Great Emu War... the Global War on Terrorism...
- Any protracted conflict, particularly
- the War on Poverty... the War on Drugs... the War on Christmas... - 2025 October 2, William Davies, “A critique of pure stupidity: understanding Trump 2.0”, in The Guardian:
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(chiefly US) A sustained campaign against a social problem, idea, set of values, etc.
- The war against war is going to be no holiday excursion or camping party... Ask all our millions, north and south, whether they would vote now (were such a thing possible) to have our war for the Union expunged from...
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(business) A protracted instance of fierce competition in trade.
- price wars... Cola Wars... format wars...
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(crime) A prolonged conflict between two groups of organized criminals, usually over organizational or territorial control.
- turf war... gang war... Castellammarese War...
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(Internet) An argument between two or more people with opposing opinions on a topic or issue.
- flame war... edit war...
- An assembly of weapons; instruments of war.
- The God of Love himſelf inhabits there, With all his rage, and dread, and grief, and care, His complement of ſtores, and total war... - 1709, Matthew Prior, “Henry and Emma. […]”, in The Poetical Works of Matthew Prior...
- Armed forces.
- On thir imbattelld ranks the Waves return, And overwhelm thir Warr - 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […];...
- Any of a family of card games where all cards are dealt at the beginning of play and players attempt to capture them all, typically involving no skill and only serving to kill time.
- We played crazy eights, war, fifty-two card pickup. Rudy flipped the whole deck across the table at me and the cards sailed to the floor, kings, queens, deuces. - 2004, Karen Salyer McElmurray, Strange Birds in the Tree...
Origin
Inherited from Middle English werre, from Late Old English werre /wyrre (“armed conflict”), from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French guerre /werre (compare modern French guerre), from Medieval Latin werra, from Frankish *werʀu (“confusion; quarrel”), from Proto-Indo-European *wers- (“to mix up, confuse, beat, thresh”). Gradually displaced native Old English beadu, hild, ġewinn, orleġe, wīġ, and many others as the general term for "war" during the Middle English period. Related to Old High German werra (“confusion, strife, quarrel”) and German verwirren (“to confuse”), but not to Wehr (“defense”). Also related to Old Saxon werran (“to confuse, perplex”), Dutch war (“confusion, disarray”), West Frisian war (“struggle, resistance, defense, effort, exertion, activity”), Old English wyrsa, wiersa (“worse”), Old Norse verri (“worse, orig. confounded, mixed up”), Italian guerra (“war”). There...
Forms
Antonyms
Hyponyms
American War American War of Independence capital war civil war cola war cold war Continuation War conventional war edit war endless war First World War flame war Football War format war French and Indian War gang war gas war holy war hot war Hundred Years' War Korean War Mexican-American War Mexican War nuclear war
Related
Derived
14-18 war abstinence of war act of war afterwar after-war airwar air war all is fair in love and war all's fair in love and war anti-war articles of war art of war at war bewarred bus war captain of sea and war catalytic war class war color war contraband of war council of war counterwar culture war currency war
Verb
- To engage in conflict (may be followed by "with" to specify the foe).
- ...to war the Scot, and borders to defend... - 1595, Samuel Daniel, The First Four Books of the Civil Wars:
- And they warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses, and they slew all the males - 1611, King James Bible, Book of Numbers, 31:7
- Once more vnto the Breach, Deare friends, once more... Be Coppy now to men of groſſer blood, And teach them how to Warre. - 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William...
- To carry on, as a contest; to wage.
- […], that thou by them mighteſt warre a good warfare,[…]. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Timothy 1:18, column 2:
- By God, that man does war honour. - 1970, Waterloo, spoken by Arthur Wellesley: