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.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• dirty wars
  plural

Example Sentences

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

He now leads Georgia State students on tours of dirty war sites in Buenos Aires.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 28, 2023

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

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 1, 2023

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