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

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

Others said they were justified by the scale of the online dirty war.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 25, 2022

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

KIGOGO, Democratic Republic of Congo — Shortly after midday in this village nestled in clouds, the progenitors of the long, dirty war across Central Africa came out of the jungle and laid down their guns.

From New York Times ● Jun. 28, 2014