total warn.
/ˌtəʊtl ˈwɔː/, U.S. /ˌtoʊd(ə)l ˈwɔr/ War which is unrestricted in terms of the resources or personnel employed, the territory or nations involved, or the objectives pursued; esp. war in which civilians are perceived as combatants and therefore as legitimate targets. Also: an instance of this. Cf. people's war n. (b) at people n. Compounds 3b, limited war n. at limited adj. and n. Compounds.
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society > armed hostility > war > types of war > [noun] > total war
people's war1857
total war1936
1936 tr. E. F. W. Ludendorff (title) The ‘total’ war [Ger. Der Totale Krieg].
1937 W. L. Shirer Berlin Diary (1941) 86 Total war means the complete and final disappearance of the vanquished from the stage of history!
1942 E. Waugh Put out More Flags i. 86 This is all that anyone talks about, thought Ambrose; jobs and the kind of war it is going to be..people's war, total war.
1964 Illustr. London News 11 Jan. 49/3 A nation cannot afford the luxury of two total wars, and yet retain its old way of life.
1980 R. Moody Devil you Don't iv. 45 In the fight against Hitler, we progressed to the concept of Total War, no quarter given, no humanity expected, victory at any price.
2000 Independent 3 Mar. (Friday Review section) 4/7 Western society—shocked, pounded, bombed and holocausted—was changed forever by the realities of total war.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1936