war
/wɔː
/noun [mass noun]
1A state of armed conflict between different countries or different groups within a country: Japan declared war on Germany the two countries were at war for the next eight years [count noun]: I fought in two wars...
- We are at war, and the Army intends to keep its soldiers equipped with the best gear available.
- We are a nation at war and the Army is carrying the majority of that load for the nation.
- According to Clausewitz, the main objective of an army at war is to defeat the opposing army.
Synonyms
conflict, warfare, combat, fighting, struggle, armed conflict, action, military action, bloodshed, contest, tussle;
battle, skirmish, fight, clash, confrontation, engagement, affray, encounter, collision, offensive, attack, blitz, siege;
campaign, crusade, feud, vendetta;
strife, hostility, enmity, antagonism, discord, disunity, animus, ill will, bad blood;
hostilities
1.1A state of competition or hostility between different people or groups: she was at war with her parents [count noun]: a price war among tour operators...
- The battle for control of Novar, the industrial conglomerate, has all the makings of a highly charged hostile bid war.
- One such bridging concept is struggle, which incorporates notions of both competition and war.
- For many a Leo-Aries, life is seen as war, and competition can be everything.
1.2A sustained campaign against an undesirable situation or activity: the authorities are waging war against smuggling [count noun]: a war on drugs...
- The war on slums was a campaign in the real war.
- Police have announced a new battleground for their war on anti-social behaviour in the borough.
- The cost of carrying such project would be infinitesimally smaller that the cost of present war on terrorism.
Synonyms
campaign, crusade, battle, fight, struggle, movement, drive, mission
verb (wars, warring, warred) [no object]
Engage in a war: small states warred against each another figurative conflicting emotions warred within her...
- Every emotion he'd ever known warred within his head and gut, twisting his insides about with sickening force.
- As both books well demonstrate, the organizations warred with each other as much as they worked against a common enemy.
- Frustration and uncertainty had warred within him as he awaited Jerry's arrival home.
Synonyms
fight, battle, combat, wage war, make war, be at war, be in conflict, conduct a war, do battle, join battle, take the field, take up arms;
feud, quarrel, struggle, strive, contend, grapple, wrangle, tilt, cross swords, lock horns, come to blows;
attack, engage, clash with, encounter, take on, set to, skirmish with, grapple with
informal be at each other's throats, fight like cat and dog
Phrases
go to war
go to the wars
be in the wars
war clouds
war of attrition
war of nerves
war of words
war to end all wars
Origin
Late Old English werre, from an Anglo-Norman French variant of Old French guerre, from a Germanic base shared by worse.
Before the mid 12th century there was no English word exactly meaning war, nor did any of their Germanic relatives have one despite their warlike reputation. The word came over from Old French guerre and is related to worse (Old English). The Guerre itself is of Germanic origin, and originally meant ‘confusion, discord’.