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.
Meaning & usage
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
A particular conflict of this kind.
a war of succession... a war of attrition... the Cold War... World War III...
Protracted armed conflict against irregular forces, particularly groups considered terrorists.
the Great Emu War... the Global War on Terrorism...
Protracted state or state-sponsored political violence against dissidents.
the Dirty War...
Any protracted conflict, particularly
Any protracted conflict, particularly A sustained campaign against a social problem, idea, set of values, etc.
Any protracted conflict, particularly A protracted instance of fierce competition in trade.
price wars... Cola Wars... format wars...
Any protracted conflict, particularly A protracted struggle between rival organizations for control of a particular institution.
FISA–FOCA war...
Any protracted conflict, particularly A prolonged conflict between two groups of organized criminals, usually over organizational or territorial control.
turf war... gang war... Castellammarese War...
Any protracted conflict, particularly 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.
Armed forces.
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.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *wers-der. Proto-Germanic *werzaną Proto-West Germanic *werʀan Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Germanic *-ō Proto-West Germanic *-u Frankish *werʀubor. Early Medieval Latin werra Old Northern French guerreder. Old English werre Middle English werre English war 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.
To engage in conflict (may be followed by "with" to specify the foe).
To carry on, as a contest; to wage.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *wers-der. Proto-Germanic *werzaną Proto-West Germanic *werʀan Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Germanic *-ō Proto-West Germanic *-u Frankish *werʀubor. Early Medieval Latin werra Old Northern French guerreder. Old English werre Middle English werre English war 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.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.