Word.ws English Dictionary

war

/wɔː//wɔɹ/

war noun: organized, large-scale, armed conflict between countries or between national, ethnic, or other sizeable groups, usually but not always involving active engagement of military forces.

war: organized, large-scale, armed conflict between countries or between national, ethnic, or other...
Image: Emanuel Leutze, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

war (countable and uncountable, plural wars)

  1. (uncountable) Organized, large-scale, armed conflict between countries or between national, ethnic, or other sizeable groups, usually but not always involving active engagement of military forces.
    • holy war; just war; civil war
    • Come on, let vs deale wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to passe that when there falleth out any warre, they ioyne also vnto our enemies, and fight against vs, and so get them vp out of the land.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 1:10
  2. (countable) A particular conflict of this kind.
    • All human tribes glad token see
      In the close of the wars of Grant and Lee.1865, Herman Melville, The Surrender at Appomattox
    • A second challenge will be to implement, with our allies, a plan of stability in the Balkans, so that the region's bitter ethnic problems can no longer be exploited by dictators and Americans do not have to cross the Atlantic again to fight in another war.1999 Nov. 8, Bill Clinton, speech at Georgetown University
  3. (countable, proscribed, sometimes) Protracted armed conflict against irregular forces, particularly groups considered terrorists.
    • Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.2001 Sept. 20, George W. Bush, speech before Congress, White House Archives
    • ...These wars are not going away. This is at least a generational struggle.2021 Sept. 8, Seth G. Jones, quoted in Chris Moody, "Twenty Years after 9/11, Did US Win Its ‘War on Terror’?" Al-Jazeera
  4. (broadly, countable, proscribed, sometimes) Protracted state or state-sponsored political violence against dissidents.
    • the Dirty War...
  5. (broadly, countable) Any protracted conflict, particularly
    • the War on Poverty... the War on Drugs... the War on Christmas...2025 October 2, William Davies, “A critique of pure stupidity: understanding Trump 2.0”, in The Guardian
    1. (US, broadly) A sustained campaign against a social problem, idea, set of values, etc.
      • The war against war is going to be no holiday excursion or camping party... Ask all our millions, north and south, whether they would vote now (were such a thing possible) to have our war for the Union expunged from history... and probably hardly a handful of eccentrics would say yes. Those...1906, William James, The Moral Equivalent of War
    2. (broadly) A protracted instance of fierce competition in trade.
      • price wars... Cola Wars... format wars...
    3. (broadly) A protracted struggle between rival organizations for control of a particular institution.
      • FISA–FOCA war...
    4. (broadly, crime) A prolonged conflict between two groups of organized criminals, usually over organizational or territorial control.
      • turf war... gang war... Castellammarese War...
    5. (Internet, broadly) An argument between two or more people with opposing opinions on a topic or issue.
      • flame war... edit war...
  6. (obsolete, uncountable) An assembly of weapons; instruments of war.
    • The God of Love himſelf inhabits there,
      With all his rage, and dread, and grief, and care,
      His complement of ſtores, and total war...1709, Matthew Prior, “Henry and Emma. […]”, in The Poetical Works of Matthew Prior […], volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan, […], published 1779, →OCLC, page 245
  7. (obsolete) Armed forces.
    • On thir imbattelld ranks the Waves return,
      And overwhelm thir Warr1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
  8. (uncountable) Any of a family of card games where all cards are dealt at the beginning of play and players attempt to capture them all, typically involving no skill and only serving to kill time.
    • We played crazy eights, war, fifty-two card pickup. Rudy flipped the whole deck across the table at me and the cards sailed to the floor, kings, queens, deuces.2004, Karen Salyer McElmurray, Strange Birds in the Tree of Heaven

Verb

war (third-person singular simple present wars, present participle warring, simple past and past participle warred)

  1. (intransitive) To engage in conflict (may be followed by "with" to specify the foe).
    • ...to war the Scot, and borders to defend...1595, Samuel Daniel, The First Four Books of the Civil Wars
    • And they warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses, and they slew all the males1611, King James Bible, Book of Numbers, 31:7
  2. (transitive) To carry on, as a contest; to wage.
    • […], that thou by them mighteſt warre a good warfare,[…].1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Timothy 1:18, column 2
    • By God, that man does war honour.1970, Waterloo, spoken by Arthur Wellesley

Proper noun (1) capitalized: WAR

WAR

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of White Aryan Resistance.
  2. (abbreviation, initialism, Java programming language) Initialism of Web Application aRchive (a Java archive file).
  3. (abbreviation, historical, initialism) Initialism of Winchester Automatic Rifle.
  4. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Women Against Registry.

Noun (2) capitalized: WAR

WAR (uncountable)

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of write after read, a kind of data hazard.
  2. (abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of wins above replacement.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: War

War

  1. (obsolete) World War I.
    • Through much of the War, Hitler carried his painter's kit, did water colors of War-ruined buildings.1939 October 30, “Paintings by Adolf Hitler”, in Life, volume 7, number 18, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 52
  2. (UK, informal) World War II.
  3. The personification of war, often depicted in armour and riding a red horse; the red rider.
  4. A city in West Virginia, United States.

war meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

war in Hindi

conflict involving organized use of arms
युद्ध yuddh, जंग jaṅg, संग्राम saṅgrām, लड़ाई laṛāī, हर्ब harb, समर samar
to engage in conflict
लड़ाई करना laṛāī karnā, युद्ध करना yuddh karnā, जंग लड़ना jaṅg laṛnā

war in Tamil

conflict involving organized use of arms
போர் pōr, யுத்தம் yuttam

war in Marathi

conflict involving organized use of arms
युद्ध yuddha

war in Urdu

conflict involving organized use of arms
جَن٘گ jaṅg, یُدھ yudh, مُحارَبَہ muhāraba, حَرْب harb
to engage in conflict
جَن٘گ لَڑنا jang laṛnā, جَن٘گ کَرْنا jang karnā
More languagesFewer languages
war in Bengali
যুদ্ধ juddho, জঙ্গ joṅgo
war in Telugu
యుద్ధం yuddhaṁ
war in Malayalam
യുദ്ധം yuddhaṁ
war in Kannada
ಯುದ್ಧ yuddha
war in Punjabi
لڑائی lṛā'ī, ਲੜਾਈ laṛāī, ਜੰਗ jaṅg, ਲਾਮ lām
war in Gujarati
યુદ્ધ yuddh
war in Odia
ଯୁଦ୍ଧ juddha
war in Sanskrit
युद्धम् yuddham, संग्राम saṃgrāma, युध्यते yudhyate
war in Sinhala
යුද්ධය yuddhaya
war in Assamese
যুদ্ধ zuddho
war in Nepali
युद्ध yuddha
war in Pashto
جنګ jang, جګړه jagǝṛa, محاربه mahāreba, حرب harb
war in Tagalog
gera, giyera, digmaan
war in Arabic
حَرْب ḥarb, مُحَارَبَة muḥāraba, حرب ḥarb, حَارَبَ ḥāraba
war in Malay
perang, peperangan, harab
war in Indonesian
perang
war in Persian
جَنْگ jang, مُحارِبِه mohârebe, پادْرَزْم pâdrazm, حَرْب harb
war in Thai
สงคราม sǒng-kraam
war in Vietnamese
chiến tranh
war in Myanmar
စစ် cac
Sindhi
جَنگِ jangi
Dhivehi
ހަނގުރާމަ haⁿgurāma
Kashmiri
جَنٛگ jang, یۄد yọd, لَڑٲے laḍạ̄y, جَنٛگ کَرُن jang karun
Dzongkha
དམག dmag

Examples of war in a sentence

  • a war of succession... a war of attrition... the Cold War... World War III...
  • the Great Emu War... the Global War on Terrorism...
  • And when yee shall heare of warres, and rumors of warres, be yee not troubled: For such things must needs be, but the end shall not be yet.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 13:7:
  • War is indeed a fearful thing and the more I see it the more dreadful it appears.1854, Prince George, letter to his wife from Crimea
  • You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will.1864 Sept. 12, William Tecumseh Sherman, letter to the mayor of Atlanta & al.
  • You don't know the horrible aspects of war.1879 June 19, William Tecumseh Sherman, speech to the Michigan Military Academy

All 40 example sentences with war

Synonyms of war

Antonyms

Forms of war

Noun
pluralwars
alternative form (obsolete)warr
alternative form (obsolete)warre
Verb
third-person singular presentwars
present participlewarring
past participlewarred
pastwarred

Plural of war: wars

Origin of war

Inherited from Middle English werre, from Late Old English werre /wyrre (“armed conflict”), from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French guerre /werre (compare modern French guerre), from Medieval Latin werra, from Frankish *werʀu (“confusion; quarrel”), from Proto-Indo-European *wers- (“to mix up, confuse, beat, thresh”). Gradually displaced native Old English beadu, hild, ġewinn, orleġe, wīġ, and many others as the general term for "war" during the Middle English period. Related to Old High German werra (“confusion, strife, quarrel”) and German verwirren (“to confuse”), but not to Wehr (“defense”). Also related to Old Saxon werran (“to confuse, perplex”), Dutch war (“confusion, disarray”), West Frisian war (“struggle, resistance, defense, effort, exertion, activity”), and Romance terms borrowed from Germanic, such as Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish guerra (“war”). Not likely related to worse or wurst.

Words formed from war

Phrases with war

164 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with war

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about war

What does war mean?
War means organized, large-scale, armed conflict between countries or between national, ethnic, or other sizeable groups, usually but not always involving active engagement of military forces.
What is war in Hindi?
War in Hindi is युद्ध (yuddh), जंग (jaṅg), संग्राम (saṅgrām). See War meaning in Hindi.
How do you use war in a sentence?
a war of succession... a war of attrition... the Cold War... World War III...
What part of speech is war?
War can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce war?
War is pronounced /wɔː/ (UK).
What is the plural of war?
The plural of war is wars.

Words near war in the dictionary

  1. waqif
  2. waqifs
  3. Waqooyi Bari
  4. Waquita
  5. Waquoit
  6. war
  7. War and Peace
  8. war artist
  9. war artists
  10. war babies
  11. war baby

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: war (page history and authors); WAR (page history and authors); War (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-war.ogg, en-us-war.ogg.

Cite this entry: “war.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/war. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.