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

Rusty Goffe began his film career in the Gene Wilder movie, before later appearing in the original Star Wars, the Harry Potter films and Doctor Who.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 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

Disney got to work making spin-offs of spin-offs of stories about a bounty hunter who had around 10 minutes of screen time in the original Star Wars trilogy.

From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2026

The biggest announcements and takeaways from Disney’s D23 showcase on upcoming film and TV projects from Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar and more.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026

With a whir and whoosh of its electric motor, a shiny robot the color of the storm troopers in Star Wars scooted across an intersection between bookshelves.

From "Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library" by Chris Grabenstein

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