dirty war

American  

noun

dirty wars plural

1. a war conducted by the military or secret police of a regime against revolutionary and terrorist insurgents and marked by the regime's use of kidnapping, torture, and murder, with members of the civilian population often the victims.

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• dirty wars
  plural

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dirty war

Scappaticci, who died last year, was the personification of the dirty war secretly fought between Britain's intelligence agencies and the IRA.

From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2024

For Moreno Ocampo, the politics of the dirty war were personal and familial.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2023

They say they are tired and want to take the lead in denouncing what they call a dirty war.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 7, 2018

Historians call this period of disappearances the dirty war.

From New York Times ● Nov. 20, 2017

He came of age during Argentina’s dirty war, a period that nearly brought the country to the brink of civil war and economic ruin.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 23, 2015