Link Centre Dictionary

war

UK/wɔː/ US/wɔɹ/ very common informal uk us
noun (4) verb (1)

noun

1.

the waging of armed conflict against an enemy

  • “thousands of people were killed in the war”
Synonyms
2.

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

  • “war was declared in November but actual fighting did not begin until the following spring”
Synonyms
Antonyms
3.

an active struggle between competing entities

  • “a price war”
  • “a war of wits”
  • “diplomatic warfare”
Synonyms
4.

a concerted campaign to end something that is injurious

  • “the war on poverty”
  • “the war against crime”

verb

1.

make or wage war

Antonyms

Origin

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”), Old English wyrsa, wiersa (“worse”), Old Norse verri (“worse, orig. confounded, mixed up”), Italian guerra (“war”). There may be a connection with worse and wurst.

Phrases

  • 14-18 war
  • abstinence of war
  • act of war
  • air war
  • all is fair in love and war
  • all's fair in love and war
  • art of war
  • articles of war

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.