wars

Noun

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
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
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
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

See all 19 meanings of war