a conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation; warfare, as by land, sea, or air.
a state or period of armed hostility or active military operations.
The two nations were at war with each other.
a contest carried on by force of arms, as in a series of battles or campaigns.
the War of 1812.
armed fighting, as a science, profession, activity, or art; methods or principles of waging armed conflict.
War is the soldier's business.
active hostility or contention; conflict; contest.
a war of words.
aggressive business conflict, as through severe price cutting in the same industry or any other means of undermining competitors.
a fare war among airlines; a trade war between nations.
a struggle to achieve a goal.
the war on cancer;
a war against poverty;
a war for hearts and minds.
Cards.
a game for two or more persons, played with a 52-card pack evenly divided between the players, in which each player turns up one card at a time with the higher card taking the lower, and in which, when both turned up cards match, each player lays one card face down and turns up another, the player with the higher card of the second turn taking all the cards laid down.
an occasion in this game when both turned up cards match.
Archaic. a battle.
to make or carry on war; fight.
to war with a neighboring nation.
to carry on active hostility or contention.
Throughout her life she warred with sin and corruption.
to be in conflict or in a state of strong opposition.
The temptation warred with his conscience.
open armed conflict between two or more parties, nations, or states
a particular armed conflict
the 1973 war in the Middle East
the techniques of armed conflict as a study, science, or profession
any conflict or contest
a war of wits
the war against crime
(modifier) of, relating to, resulting from, or characteristic of war
a war hero
war damage
a war story
to have made the most of the opportunities presented to one during wartime
informal (esp of a child) hurt or knocked about, esp as a result of quarrelling and fighting
First recorded before 1150; Middle English noun wer(re), war(re), late Old English werre, wyrre, from Old North French wer(r)e, waire, from Old Frankish werra (unrecorded), from Germanic; cognate with Old High German werra, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch werre “strife, discord”; verb derivative of the noun; akin to war 2, worse
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English wer(re), war(re), from Old Norse verri worse
War is armed combat between two or more countries or between different groups of people within the same country. As the soul singer Edwin Starr asked, "War! Huh! What is it good for?" Absolutely nothing. The term "civil war" means not that the war is courteous and polite, but that it is between citizens of the same nation or community, as in the American Civil War. Often war refers to nonmilitary combat or tension, such as between angry neighbors, or rival sports teams, or between different social classes — as in "class war," or government policies such as the "war on drugs."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Germany claimed Nauru as a protectorate from the late 1880s until World War I, when the island was captured by Australian troops.
From Barron's • May 13, 2026
Among the most recent scheduled monuments are gun emplacements and anti-invasion defences from World War Two.
From BBC • May 13, 2026
The War Powers Act has historically proven difficult to enforce, with courts generally reluctant to intervene in disputes between Congress and the White House over military action.
From Barron's • May 13, 2026
When the Yom Kippur War began in 1973, my father was drafted into the reserves.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 12, 2026
These escapes put the Berlin Wall at the heart of the Cold War.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
