war
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war¹
- /wɔː/ UK
- /wɔɹ/ US
- /woɹ/ US
- /wɔɾ/ Scotland
- /wɔ(r)/ South Asia
- /wɑ(r)/ South Asia
- /wɑɹ/ Philippines, obsolete
Sounds like wor, wore (horse–hoarse merger), waw (non-rhotic) · Rhymes with -ɔː(ɹ)
Where it comes from
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.
noun wars · warr · warre
- 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 is merely the continuation of policy by other means; War is hell
- A particular conflict of this kind. All human tribes glad token see In the close of the wars of Grant and Lee.
- Protracted armed conflict against irregular forces, sometimes those 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.
- Protracted state or state-sponsored political violence against dissidents. the Dirty War...
- 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.
- A protracted instance of fierce competition in trade. price wars... Cola Wars... format wars...
- A protracted struggle between rival organizations for control of a particular institution. FISA–FOCA war...
- A prolonged conflict between two groups of organized criminals, usually over organizational or territorial control. turf war... gang war... Castellammarese War...
- An argument between two or more people with opposing opinions on a topic or issue. flame war... edit war...
- 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...
- Armed forces. On thir imbattelld ranks the Waves return, And overwhelm thir Warr
- 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.
Opposite: peace
War²
proper noun
- World War I. Through much of the War, Hitler carried his painter's kit, did water colors of War-ruined buildings.
- World War II.
- The personification of war, often depicted in armour and riding a red horse; the red rider.
- A city in West Virginia, United States.
WAR³
proper noun
- Initialism of White Aryan Resistance
- Initialism of Web Application aRchive (a Java archive file).
- Initialism of Winchester Automatic Rifle
- Initialism of Women Against Registry
noun
- Initialism of write after read, a kind of data hazard.
- Acronym of wins above replacement
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: warfare, invasion, warmongering, wartime, warfighting, warrior, belligerent, battleground, hostilities, fighting, battlefield, warlord, military, warlike, bellicose, army
noun
Opposite: peace
Translations
Every language
noun conflict involving organized use of arms
| Español | guerra, guerrero, bélico, belicoso, pugnaz |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 전쟁 jeonjaeng |
| 日本語 | 戦争 sensō, 戦 ikusa |
| 中文 | 戰爭 /战争 zhànzhēng, 仗 zhàng |
| हिन्दी | युद्ध yuddh, जंग jaṅg, संग्राम saṅgrām, लड़ाई laṛāī, हर्ब harb, समर samar |
| Kiswahili | vita |
| Português | guerra |
| Français | guerre |
| Deutsch | Krieg |
| Italiano | guerra |
| Ελληνικά | πόλεμος pólemos |
| Română | război, răzbel |
| Русский | война́ vojná |
| Tiếng Việt | chiến tranh |
| العربية | حَرْب ḥarb |
| עברית | מִלְחָמָה milkhamá |
noun rhetorical: campaign against something
| Español | guerra |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 鬥爭 /斗争 dòuzhēng, 挑戰 /挑战 tiǎozhàn |
| Português | guerra |
| Italiano | guerra |
| Ελληνικά | μάχη máchi, αγώνας agónas |
| Русский | война́ vojná, борьба́ borʹbá |
verb to engage in conflict
| Español | guerrear, hacer la guerra |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 전쟁하다 jeonjaenghada, 전쟁을 수행하다 jeonjaeng-eul suhaenghada |
| 日本語 | 戦争する sensō suru, 戦争を遂行する sensō o suikō suru |
| 中文 | 作戰 /作战 zuòzhàn, 交兵 jiāobīng, 開戰 /开战 kāizhàn |
| हिन्दी | लड़ाई करना laṛāī karnā, युद्ध करना yuddh karnā, जंग लड़ना jaṅg laṛnā |
| Português | guerrear |
| Français | entrer en guerre, faire la guerre |
| Deutsch | Krieg führen, kriegen |
| Italiano | fare la guerra |
| Română | a duce război |
| Русский | воева́ть vojevátʹ, вести́ войну́ vestí vojnú |
| العربية | حَارَبَ ḥāraba, شَنَّ حَرْبًا šanna ḥarban |
| עברית | נִלְחַם nilkhám |
Talk about this word "war." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/war. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. war. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/war "war." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/war.Cite this
@misc{war_2026,
title = {war},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/war},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
