preventive war

American  

noun

Military.

1. an attack against a presumed enemy to prevent a possible attack by that enemy at a later time: because preventive wars are prompted more by speculation than by clearly imminent danger, they generally are considered unacceptable in international law.

---

Etymology

Origin of preventive war

First recorded in 1630–40

Example Sentences

Just months before joining the administration, he tried to make the legal case for a preventive war against Pyongyang.

From The Guardian • May 16, 2019

And there is National Security Advisor General HR McMaster, who's been the most vocal about the possibility of a "preventive war" to stop North Korea from threatening the US with a nuclear weapon.

From BBC • Mar. 16, 2018

Concerning the latter, there is no bright line, but there is a distinction to be drawn, however imprecisely, between preemptive war and preventive war.

From Washington Post • Sep. 6, 2017

It repudiates not only preventive war, but also the fantasy that economic sanctions can bring down or fundamentally alter hostile regimes.

From Time • Apr. 8, 2015

The military party in the former country began to talk of a "preventive" war pretty loudly.

From Before the War by Haldane, R. B. Haldane (Richard Burdon Haldane), Viscount