WAR


Meaning of WAR in English

I. ˈwȯ(ə)r, ˈwȯ(ə) noun

( -s )

Usage: often attributive

Etymology: Middle English werre, warre, from Old North French werre, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German werra confusion, strife; akin to Old High German werran to confuse, Latin verrere to sweep, and perhaps to Greek errhein to go, go to ruin

1.

a.

(1) : a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between political units (as states or nations)

war cannot exist between two countries unless each of them has its own government — E.D.Dickinson

— see civil war , cold war , limited war ; compare battle , riot

(2) : a period of armed conflict between political units

the neighboring countries fought a war over the disputed territory

— sometimes used in plural

gone off to the wars

also : state of war 2

(3) : state of war 1b

hostilities were officially ended … though … the war was not yet officially over — F.A.Ogg & P.O.Ray

b. archaic : an engagement in a war : battle

c. : the art, activity, profession, or science of military operations : the methods and principle of warfare

d.

(1) obsolete : weapons and equipment for war

(2) archaic : soldiers armed and equipped for war

e. : a conflict carried on by one or a few of the normal means of war or one field of military activity distinguished from other activities in a war

a naval war for control of trade routes

integrating the conduct of the ground and air wars

2.

a. : a state of hostility, conflict, opposition, or antagonism between mental, physical, social, or other forces

these factions were more at war than were the two real political parties — Roy Lewis & Angus Maude

the children would in all probability fare better in peace with one parent than in war with two — E.F.Melson

making war on the periodic invasion of insects — Emery Neff

his innate gentleness at war with his fierce sense of power — Robert Payne

b. : a struggle of any degree of intensity carried on between opposing forces (as desires, social groups, or physical forces) in a particular field or by a particular means or for a particular goal

a war against want and destitution and economic demoralization — F.D.Roosevelt

price war

a war of scurrilous pamphlets — V.L.Parrington

a personal war against engulfment in the provincial pattern of conformity — Henry Cavendish

class war

3. : a card game for children in which the cards are turned up one by one, the highest takes the others, and a tie occasions a situation in which the next turn decides ; also : the situation occasioned by a tie in the game of war

II. intransitive verb

( warred ; warred ; warring ; wars )

Etymology: Middle English werrien, werren, warren, from werre war

1. : to make or wage war : carry on armed hostilities

nations … warred repeatedly against their victims and against one another — H.R.Isaacs

2. : to be in active or vigorous conflict or contention especially during an extended period

the desire for life warred with his fear and hate of it — Douglas Stewart

landowners and squatters warred for years over clouded titles — Julian Dana

Synonyms: see contend

III. ˈwȧr adverb (or adjective)

Etymology: Middle English werre, war, from Old Norse verri, adjective, verr, adverb — more at worse

chiefly Scotland : worse

IV. transitive verb

( warred ; warred ; warring ; wars )

Etymology: Middle English warren, from war (III)

Scotland : worst , overcome

V. ˈwȧr

dialect

past of be

VI. abbreviation

warrant

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.