Star Wars

American

noun

a U.S. weapons research program begun in 1984 to explore technologies, including ground- and space-based lasers, for destroying attacking missiles and warheads.

Star Wars British

noun

Formal name: Strategic Defense Initiative, SDI. (in the US) a proposed system of artificial satellites armed with lasers to destroy enemy missiles in space
(modifier; sometimes not capitals) of, relating to, or denoting this system

Star Wars defence
star wars policy

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Star Wars ¹ Cultural

A series of popular science fiction motion pictures created by George Lucas. The first trilogy debuted in 1977 with Star Wars: A New Hope. The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi followed in the 1980s. Prequels, Episode I: The Phantom Menace and Episode 2: Attack of the Clones, were recently released. The films are noted for combining classic themes of good versus evil with cutting-edge special effects.

Star Wars ² Cultural

A popular name, taken from the title of a film, for the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) of President Ronald Reagan. “Star Wars” involves the development by the United States of a defense in outer space against intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Etymology

Origin of Star Wars

C20: popularly named after the science fiction film Star Wars (1977) by George Lucas

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Star Wars

Beyaz compares PPARD's opposing roles to "the force" in Star Wars.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026

The Marvel Comics app library will feature comics spanning Marvel, Star Wars and 20th Century Studios titles at launch, with stories from Disney’s other brands — like Pixar and Disney Animation — expected to follow.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

"What was weird is obviously, they'd had to translate all these things that we'd grown up with, knowing Star Wars," Rhys said.

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026

Brooches that refer to various Chanel collections are assembled out of Legos, bits of Star Wars action figures, and other bric-a-brac, gleaming in jewelry cases and elevating these childish materials.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

“Remember I still had that Star Wars braid hanging from the back of my head?”

From "Wonder" by R. J. Palacio

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023