Punic Wars

American  

plural noun

1. the three wars waged by Rome against Carthage, 264–241, 218–201, and 149–146 b.c., resulting in the destruction of Carthage and the annexation of its territory by Rome.

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Punic Wars British  

plural noun

1. three wars (264–241 _bc , 218–201 _bc , and 149–146 _bc ), in which Rome crushed Carthaginian power, destroying Carthage itself

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Punic Wars Cultural  

1. Three wars between ancient Carthage and Rome in the third and second centuries b.c. Hannibal led the forces of Carthage in the second Punic War. Carthage was destroyed after the third Punic War.

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Example Sentences

It is thought he took soldiers and animals from Carthage through Spain and France to invade Italy, crossing the Alps with 37 elephants in 218 BCE during the second of the so-called Punic Wars.

From BBC • Feb. 16, 2026

Later Roman writers dressed up the Punic Wars as an ancestral vendetta of the Barcids, the family to which Hannibal belonged.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 11, 2026

“Do you want to read?” one of the third graders, Parker, asked his partner after the lesson on the Punic Wars.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 9, 2023

The Punic Wars over time — note how much Carthage’s empire was reduced by the end of the Second Punic War, encompassing only the region marked in purple around Carthage itself.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2019

To the Romans themselves, as they looked back two hundred years later, the beginnings of a real literature seemed definitely fixed in the generation which passed between the first and second Punic Wars.

From Latin Literature by Mackail, J. W. (John William)