See Also:

war(2) (iou)



war noun1. LOE.
[Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French werre var. of Old & mod. French guerre, from Frankish (or West Germanic) werra rel. to Old High German werra confusion, discord, strife, Old Saxon, Old High German werran bring into confusion (German wirren confuse, perplex), from Germanic base repr. by WORSE adjective.]
a. The state of (usu. open and declared) armed conflict between nations or states; armed hostilities between nations or States, or between parties in the same nation or State; the employment of armed forces against a foreign power, or against an opposing party in the State. Also (now chiefly arch. or joc.) in pl. (treated as pl. or sing.) in same sense. LOE.
Encounter War was almost universally considered an acceptable..way of settling international differences.
b. A specific conflict between armed forces carried on in a campaign or series of campaigns; the period of time during which such conflict exists. Freq. with specifying word. ME.
First World War, Great War, Gulf war, Hundred Years War, Opium War, Punic war, Second World War, Spanish Civil War, Wars of the Roses, etc.
Daily Telegraph Any war in Europe would be a nuclear one.
Any active hostility or struggle between living beings; (a) conflict between opposing forces or principles; a campaign against something pervasive and undesirable. ME.
Wall Street Journal Gasoline price wars have been common in..North Carolina. Daily Mail 27,000 official forms have been scrapped in a Whitehall war on red tape.
a. Fighting; a battle. Chiefly poet. Now rare or obsolete. ME.
b. A hostile attack, an invasion. LME-E17.
The operations by which armed hostilities are carried on; fighting as a department of activity, a profession, or an art. LME.
collect. poet.
a. Instruments of war, munitions. M17-E18.
b. Soldiers in fighting array. Now rare or obsolete. M17.
Phrases: at war engaged in war. cold war: see COLD adjective. contraband of war: see CONTRABAND noun 3. COUNCIL of war. declaration of war: see DECLARATION 4. gang war: see GANG noun. go to the war(s) arch. go abroad as a soldier. go to war enter into hostilities. have a good war (freq. iron.) achieve success, satisfaction, or enjoyment during a war. have been in the wars colloq. show marks of injury; appear bruised, unkempt, etc. holy war: see HOLY adjective. honours of war: see HONOUR noun. limited war: see LIMITED adjective. make war carry on hostilities (foll. by against, on, with). munitions of war: see MUNITION noun 3. open war avowed active hostility. phoney war: see PHONEY adjective. PRISONER of war. private war: see PRIVATE adjective. war of attrition: see ATTRITION 5. war of detail: see DETAIL noun. war of nerves: see NERVE noun. war of words a sustained conflict conducted by means of the spoken or printed word; a propaganda war. war to end war(s), war to end all war(s) a war which is intended to make subsequent wars impossible; spec. the war of 1914-18.
Attrib. & comb.: In the senses 'of or pertaining to war', 'used or occurring in war', 'suited for war', as war hospital, war ration, war relief, war victim, war wound, etc. Special combs., as war artist: employed to provide paintings or drawings of a war; war baby (a) a baby born during a war, esp. a (freq. illegitimate) child of a man on active service; (b) slang a young or inexperienced officer; (c) US slang a bond etc. which is sold during a war or which increases in value because of a war; war bag US: containing money, clothing, or other supplies; war-bird US (a) = war-eagle below; (b) fig. a fighting aircraft or pilot; war bonnet a head-dress decorated with eagle feathers, worn by N. American Indians; War Box slang the War Office; war bride a woman who marries a serviceman (esp. a foreign one) met during a war; War Cabinet: having responsibility for the political decisions of a country during a war; war chest (a chest or strongbox for) funds used in waging war; fig. funds used by a political party to finance an election campaign; war-cloud (a) a cloud of dust and smoke rising from a battlefield; (b) fig. an international situation threatening war; war college (chiefly US): providing advanced instruction for senior officers of the armed services; war communism Hist. an economic policy, based on strict centralized control of the economy, adopted by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War (1917-21); war correspondent a journalist reporting from a scene of war; war crime an offence committed in wartime which violates the accepted rules of war; war criminal a person who has committed a war crime; war cry (a) a phrase or name shouted by a body of fighters to encourage each other in battle; (b) a party slogan etc.; war dance: performed before a battle or in celebration of a victory; war department the State office in charge of the army etc.; war diary: recording the experiences of an individual during a war; war-dog: trained for use in war; fig. a fierce warrior; war-drum: beaten as a summons to war or an accompaniment to the battle; war-eagle the golden eagle, so called because of the use of its feathers for decoration by N. American Indians; war economy (a) a measure taken to save money or other resources during a war; (b) an economy in which a large part of the workforce is engaged in arms production etc. rather than in the production of goods for export or for civilian use; war effort the effort of a nation or an individual group to win a war; war fever an enthusiasm for war; warfront the foremost part of the field of operations of opposing armies; war-game (a) a game simulating war, esp. a battle conducted with model soldiers; (b) an exercise by which a military strategy is examined or tested; spec. = KRIEGSPIEL 1; war-gamer a person who plays a war-game; war-gaming the playing of war-games; the use of such games to examine or test strategies; war gas a gas or other chemical agent used in war to produce irritant or poisonous effects; war generation: which has experienced a war; war-god, war-goddess a god or goddess who presides over war; war grave: of a serviceman who died on active service, esp. one in a special cemetery; war-guilt the responsibility for having caused a war (freq. with ref. to the claim that Germany caused the war of 1914-18, which was embodied in an article of the Treaty of Versailles (1919)); war-hable adjective (rare, Spenser) fit for war, of military age; war-hatchet: used by N. American Indians to symbolize the declaration or cessation of hostilities; war-hawk US a person eager for the fray, a brave; warhead the explosive head of a missile, torpedo, or similar weapon; war hero, war heroine a person who has acted heroically in a war; War House slang the War Office; war hysteria unhealthy emotion or excitement caused by war; an enthusiasm for war; war-kettle among N. American Indians, a kettle which was set on the fire as a part of the ceremony of inaugurating a war; warload the bombs or missiles carried on a military aircraft; war machine (a) an instrument or weapon of war; (b) the military resources of a country organized for waging war; war-man (orig. chiefly Scot., now rare) a warrior, a soldier; war medicine N. Amer. magic formerly used by N. American Indians to ensure success in war; war memorial a monument etc. commemorating those (esp. from a particular locality) killed in a war; war minister a person who directs the war affairs of a State; the Secretary of State for War; war-note poet. a musical summons to war; War Office (a) Hist. the former department of the British Government in charge of the administration of the army (incorporated into the Ministry of Defence in 1964); the building in which the business of this department was conducted; (b) the US War Department; war orphan a child orphaned by war; war-party (a) a body of people, esp. N. American Indian braves, banded together for war; (b) a political party that favours war; war pension: paid to someone disabled or widowed by war; war-plane an aircraft equipped for fighting, bombing, etc., in wartime; war poet: writing on war themes, esp. of the two world wars; war-post: into which N. American Indians struck the war-hatchet; war-proof noun & adjective (a) noun (rare, Shakes.) courage proved in war; (b) adjective capable of resisting a hostile attack; war refugee a person who seeks refuge in another country or region to escape from the effects of war; a displaced person in wartime; war reporter = war correspondent above; war resistance opposition to war, pacifism; war resister an opponent of war or of a particular war; war risk a risk of loss etc. during wartime (freq. in pl. & attrib.); war road N. Amer. = WARPATH; war room: from which a war is directed; war-saddle a saddle used by mounted warriors, usu. with a high pommel and cantle; warship an armoured ship used in war; war-steed poet. a warhorse; war-substantive adjective confirmed (in a rank) for the duration of a war; wartime (a) the period during which a war is waged; (b) US History daylight-saving time introduced during the war of 1939-45; war trial the trial of a person for a war crime or crimes; war veteran a veteran of a (freq. specified) war; war-weary adjective (a) exhausted and dispirited by war; (b) US (of aircraft) badly damaged in wartime and withdrawn from service; war-whoop a cry made esp. by N. American Indians on rushing into battle; war-wolf Hist. a siege engine; war work special work made necessary by war and intended to advance the war effort; war-worker a person undertaking war work.
warful adjective (rare) bellicose, warlike M16.
warless adjective free or exempt from war; not engaging in war: LME.
warlessness noun (rare) absence of war E20.
warspeak noun jargon used during or in the description of a war, esp. by military personnel M20.