war
UK /wɔː/ · US /wɔɹ/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms wars warring warred warr warre
- noun (uncountable) 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”
- noun (countable) A particular conflict of this kind. “a war of succession... a war of attrition... the Cold War... World War III...”
- noun (countable, sometimes proscribed) Protracted armed conflict against irregular forces, particularly groups considered terrorists. “the Great Emu War... the Global War on Terrorism...”
- noun (countable, by extension, sometimes proscribed) Protracted state or state-sponsored political violence against dissidents. “the Dirty War...”
- noun (countable, by extension) Any protracted conflict, particularly
- noun (chiefly US) A sustained campaign against a social problem, idea, set of values, etc.
- noun (business) A protracted instance of fierce competition in trade. “price wars... Cola Wars... format wars...”
- noun A protracted struggle between rival organizations for control of a particular institution. “FISA–FOCA war...”
- verb (intransitive) To engage in conflict (may be followed by "with" to specify the foe).
- verb (transitive) To carry on, as a contest; to wage.
- proper noun (obsolete) World War I.
- proper noun (chiefly UK, informal) World War II.
- proper noun The personification of war, often depicted in armour and riding a red horse; the red rider.
- proper noun A city in West Virginia, United States.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
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”), and Romance terms borrowed from Germanic, such as Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish guerra (“war”). Not likely related to worse or wurst.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Ware; aware. [Obs.] Chaucer.
- noun A contest between nations or states, carried on by force, whether for defence, for revenging insults and redressing wrongs, for the extension of commerce, for the acquisition of territory, for obtaining and establishing the superiority and dominion of one over the other, or for any other purpose; armed conflict of sovereign powers; declared and open hostilities.
- noun A condition of belligerency to be maintained by physical force.
- verb To make war; to invade or attack a state or nation with force of arms; to carry on hostilities; to be in a state by violence.
Etymology [OE. & AS. werre; akin to OHG. werra scandal, quarrel, sedition, werran to confound, mix, D. warren, G. wirren, verwirren, to embroil, confound, disturb, and perhaps to E. worse; cf. OF. werre war, F. querre, of Teutonic origin. Cf. Guerrilla, Warrior.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “war”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details