WAR (warred, warring)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: warred    , warring   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does war mean? 

• WAR (noun)
  The noun WAR has 4 senses:

1. the waging of armed conflict against an enemy

2. a legal state created by a declaration of war and ended by official declaration during which the international rules of war apply

3. an active struggle between competing entities

4. a concerted campaign to end something that is injurious

  Familiarity information: WAR used as a noun is uncommon.

• WAR (verb)
  The verb WAR has 1 sense:

1. make or wage war

  Familiarity information: WAR used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WAR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The waging of armed conflict against an enemy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

war; warfare

Context example:

thousands of people were killed in the war

Hypernyms ("war" is a kind of...):

action; military action (a military engagement)

Meronyms (parts of "war"):

aggression (the act of initiating hostilities)

armed combat; combat (an engagement fought between two military forces)

battle; conflict; engagement; fight (a hostile meeting of opposing military forces in the course of a war)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

Domain member category:

de-escalation ((war) a reduction in intensity (of a crisis or a war))

state of war; war (a legal state created by a declaration of war and ended by official declaration during which the international rules of war apply)

despoiler; freebooter; looter; pillager; plunderer; raider; spoiler (someone who takes spoils or plunder (as in war))

side (one of two or more contesting groups)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "war"):

psychological warfare; war of nerves (the use of psychological tactics to destroy the opponents' morale)

limited war (a war whose objective is less than the unconditional defeat of the enemy)

hot war (actual fighting between the warring parties)

world war (a war in which the major nations of the world are involved)

information warfare; IW (the use of information or information technology during a time of crisis or conflict to achieve or promote specific objectives over a specific adversary or adversaries)

chemical operations; chemical warfare (warfare using chemical agents to kill or injure or incapacitate the enemy)

civil war (a war between factions in the same country)

bioattack; biologic attack; biological attack; biological warfare; BW (the use of bacteria or viruses or toxins to destroy men and animals or food)

Instance hyponyms:

Peloponnesian War (a war in which Athens and its allies were defeated by the league centered on Sparta; 431-404 BC)

Punic War (one of the three wars between Carthage and Rome that resulted in the destruction of Carthage and its annexation by Rome; 264-241 BC, 218-201 BC, 149-146 BC)

Russo-Japanese War (Japanese victory in the war with Russia (1904-1905) gave Japan power over Korea and Manchuria)

Seven Years' War (a war of England and Prussia against France and Austria (1756-1763); Britain and Prussia got the better of it)

Spanish-American War; Spanish War (a war between the United States and Spain in 1898)

Thirty Years' War (a series of conflicts (1618-1648) between Protestants and Catholics starting in Germany and spreading until France and Denmark and Sweden were opposing the Holy Roman Empire and Spain)

Trojan War ((Greek mythology) a great war fought between Greece and Troy; the Greeks sailed to Troy to recover Helen of Troy, the beautiful wife of Menelaus who had been abducted by Paris; after ten years the Greeks (via the Trojan Horse) achieved final victory and burned Troy to the ground)

Vietnam; Vietnam War (a prolonged war (1954-1975) between the communist armies of North Vietnam who were supported by the Chinese and the armies of South Vietnam who were supported by the United States)

War of Greek Independence (the Greeks rebelled against Turkish rule in 1821; with the support of England and France and Russia they won independence in 1828 at Navarino (although the country included only half its present size))

War of the Austrian Succession (Prussia and Austria fought over Silesia and most of the rest of Europe took sides; 1740-1748)

War of the Grand Alliance; War of the League of Augsburg (an aggressive war waged by Louis XIV against Spain and the Holy Roman Empire and England and Holland and other states (1689-1697))

War of the Spanish Succession (a general war in Europe (1701-1714) that broke out when Louis XIV installed his grandson on the throne of Spain; England and Holland hoped to limit Louis' power)

War of the Roses; Wars of the Roses (struggle for the English throne (1455-1485) between the house of York (white rose) and the house of Lancaster (red rose) ending with the accession of the Tudor monarch Henry VII)

War of 1812 (a war (1812-1814) between the United States and England which was trying to interfere with American trade with France)

Napoleonic Wars (a series of wars fought between France (led by Napoleon Bonaparte) and alliances involving England and Prussia and Russia and Austria at different times; 1799-1815)

Chino-Japanese War; Sino-Japanese War (a war between China and Japan (1894 and 1895) over the control of the Korean Peninsula; China was overwhelmingly defeated at Port Arthur)

Macedonian War (one the four wars between Macedonia and Rome in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, which ended in the defeat of Macedonia and its annexation as a Roman province)

Arab-Israeli War; Six-Day War; Six Day War (tension between Arabs and Israeli erupted into a brief war in June 1967; Israel emerged as a major power in the Middle East)

Arab-Israeli War; Yom Kippur War (Egypt and Syria attacked Israel in October 1973 (on Yom Kippur); Israel counterattacked and drove the Syrians back and crossed the Suez Canal into Egypt)

Balkan Wars (two wars (1912-1913) that were fought over the last of the European territories of the Ottoman Empire and that left the area around Constantinople (now Istanbul) as the only Ottoman territory in Europe)

Boer War (either of two wars: the first when the Boers fought England in order to regain the independence they had given up to obtain British help against the Zulus (1880-1881); the second when the Orange Free State and Transvaal declared war on Britain (1899-1902))

Crimean War (a war in Crimea between Russia and a group of nations including England and France and Turkey and Sardinia; 1853-1856)

Franco-Prussian War (a war between France and Prussia that ended the Second Empire in France and led to the founding of modern Germany; 1870-1871)

French and Indian War (a war in North America between France and Britain (both aided by American Indian tribes); 1755-1760)

Hundred Years' War (the series of wars fought intermittently between France and England; 1337-1453)

Gulf War; Iran-Iraq War (a dispute over control of the waterway between Iraq and Iran broke out into open fighting in 1980 and continued until 1988, when they accepted a UN cease-fire resolution)

Korean War (a war between North and South Korea; South Korea was aided by the United States and other members of the United Nations; 1950-1953)

Mexican War (after disputes over Texas lands that were settled by Mexicans the United States declared war on Mexico in 1846 and by treaty in 1848 took Texas and California and Arizona and New Mexico and Nevada and Utah and part of Colorado and paid Mexico $15,000,000)

Gulf War; Persian Gulf War (a war fought between Iraq and a coalition led by the United States that freed Kuwait from Iraqi invaders; 1990-1991)

Derivation:

war (make or wage war)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A legal state created by a declaration of war and ended by official declaration during which the international rules of war apply

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

state of war; war

Context example:

war was declared in November but actual fighting did not begin until the following spring

Hypernyms ("war" is a kind of...):

antagonism; enmity; hostility (a state of deep-seated ill-will)

Domain category:

war; warfare (the waging of armed conflict against an enemy)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "war"):

proxy war (a war instigated by a major power that does not itself participate)

Antonym:

peace (the state prevailing during the absence of war)

Derivation:

war (make or wage war)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An active struggle between competing entities

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

war; warfare

Context example:

diplomatic warfare

Hypernyms ("war" is a kind of...):

battle; conflict; struggle (an open clash between two opposing groups (or individuals))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "war"):

drug war (conflict between law enforcement and those who deal in illegal drugs)

trench warfare (a struggle (usually prolonged) between competing entities in which neither side is able to win)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A concerted campaign to end something that is injurious

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

the war against crime

Hypernyms ("war" is a kind of...):

campaign; cause; crusade; drive; effort; movement (a series of actions advancing a principle or tending toward a particular end)

• WAR (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they war    ... he / she / it wars   
Past simple: warred   
Past participle: warred   
-ing form: warring   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make or wage war

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "war" is one way to...):

contend; fight; struggle (be engaged in a fight; carry on a fight)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "war"):

blitzkrieg (fight a quick and surprising war)

go to war; take arms; take up arms (commence hostilities)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Antonym:

make peace (end hostilities)

Derivation:

war (the waging of armed conflict against an enemy)

war (a legal state created by a declaration of war and ended by official declaration during which the international rules of war apply)

warrior (someone engaged in or experienced in warfare)

 Context examples 

Brutal it was, no doubt, and its brutality is the end of it; but it is not so brutal as war, which will survive it.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Hast had small experience of war, if I may judge by your looks and bearing.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Yes, sir, war drums," said Gomez, the half-breed.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

From then on it was war between them.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Where ends the war without a brain and heart to conduct it?

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

This war for resources occurs in most bacterial communities, such as those living naturally in our gut or those that cause infection.

(Bacteria Can 'Divide and Conquer' to Vanquish Their Enemies, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Sometimes a war is entered upon, because the enemy is too strong; and sometimes, because he is too weak.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

He seems to have declared war on the King’s English as well as on the English king.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You think, sir, that unless this document is recovered there will be war?

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Fanny was disposed to think the influence of London very much at war with all respectable attachments.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)