War Definition

wôr
warred, warring, wars
noun
wars
Open armed conflict between countries or between factions within the same country.
Webster's New World
The period of such conflict.
American Heritage
Any active hostility, contention, or struggle; conflict.
The war against disease.
Webster's New World
A battle.
Webster's New World
Military operations as a profession or science.
Webster's New World
Antonyms:
verb
warring
To carry on war; engage in military conflict.
Webster's New World
To be in a state of hostility or contention; contend; strive.
Webster's New World
Antonyms:
adjective
Of, used in, or resulting from war.
Webster's New World
Webster's New World
prefix

Relating to gaining access to network resources, such as Wi-Fi access, by locating and exploiting unprotected access addresses.

Wiktionary
idiom
at war
  • In an active state of conflict or contention.
American Heritage
at war
  • in a state of active armed conflict
Webster's New World
declare war (on)
  • to make a formal declaration of being at war (with)
  • to announce one's hostility (to)
Webster's New World
go to war
  • to enter into a war
  • to become a member of the armed forces during a war
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of War

Noun

Singular:
war
Plural:
wars

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to War

Origin of War

  • From Middle English werre, from Late Old English werre, wyrre "armed conflict" from Old Northern French werre (compare Old French guerre, guerre, whence modern French guerre), from Frankish *werra (“riot, disturbance, quarrel") from Proto-Germanic *werrō (“mixture, mix-up, confusion"), from Proto-Indo-European *wers- (“to mix up, confuse, beat, thresh"). Akin to Old High German werra (“confusion, strife, quarrel") (German verwirren (“to confuse")), Old Saxon werran (“to confuse, perplex"), Dutch war (“confusion, disarray"), Old English wyrsa, wiersa (“worse"), Old Norse verri (“worse") (originally "confounded, mixed up"). Compare Latin versus (“against, turned"), past participle of vertere (“turn, change, overthrow, destroy"). More at worse, wurst.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English warre from Old North French werre of Germanic origin wers- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • from the 1983 movie Wargames, which featured war-dialing

    From Wiktionary

Find Similar Words

Find similar words to war using the buttons below.

Words Starting With

Words Ending With

Unscrambles

war