war

noun

1. (uncountable)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.

   “holy war; just war; civil war”

   “Come on, let vs deale wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to passe that when there falleth out any warre, they ioyne also vnto our enemies, and fight against vs, and so get them vp out of the land.”

   “And when yee shall heare of warres, and rumors of warres, be yee not troubled: For such things must needs be, but the end shall not be yet.”

   “War is indeed a fearful thing and the more I see it the more dreadful it appears.”

   “You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our Country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out... You might as well appeal against the thunder-storm as against these terrible hardships of war.”

2. (countable)A particular conflict of this kind.

   “All human tribes glad token see In the close of the wars of Grant and Lee.”

   “A second challenge will be to implement, with our allies, a plan of stability in the Balkans, so that the region's bitter ethnic problems can no longer be exploited by dictators and Americans do not have to cross the Atlantic again to fight in another war.”

   “a war of succession... a war of attrition... the Cold War... World War III...”

3. (countable, proscribed, sometimes)Protracted armed conflict against irregular forces, particularly groups 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.”

   “...These wars are not going away. This is at least a generational struggle.”

   “the Great Emu War... the Global War on Terrorism...”

4. (broadly, countable)Any protracted conflict, particularly

   “the War on Poverty... the War on Drugs... the War on Christmas...”

5. (US, broadly, countable, uncountable)Any protracted conflict, particularly
6. (broadly, countable, uncountable)Any protracted conflict, particularly

   “price wars... Cola Wars... format wars...”

7. (broadly, countable, uncountable)Any protracted conflict, particularly

   “turf war... gang war... Castellammarese War...”

8. (Internet, broadly, countable, uncountable)Any protracted conflict, particularly

   “flame war... edit war...”

9. (obsolete, uncountable)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...”

10. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)Armed forces.

    “On thir imbattelld ranks the Waves return, And overwhelm thir Warr”

11. (uncountable)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.”

12. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable)Initialism of write after read, a kind of data hazard.
13. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, uncountable)Acronym of wins above replacement.

verb

1. (intransitive)To engage in conflict (may be followed by "with" to specify the foe).

   “...to war the Scot, and borders to defend...”

   “And they warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses, and they slew all the males”

   “Once more vnto the Breach, Deare friends, once more... Be Coppy now to men of groſſer blood, And teach them how to Warre.”

   “This vein of reflection, warring with his inner knowledge that he had been driven by fear and hatred . . ., produced an exhausting whirl in his thoughts.”

   “People keep on learning Soldiers keep on warring World keep on turning 'Cause it won't be too long”

2. (transitive)To carry on, as a contest; to wage.

   “[…], that thou by them mighteſt warre a good warfare,[…].”

   “By God, that man does war honour.”

name

1. (obsolete)Preceded by the: designating a particularly notable war.

   “Through much of the War, Hitler carried his painter's kit, did water colors of War-ruined buildings.”

2. (British, informal)Preceded by the: designating a particularly notable war.
3. The personification of war, often depicted in armour and riding a red horse; the red rider.
4. A city in West Virginia, United States.
5. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of White Aryan Resistance.
6. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of Web Application aRchive (a Java archive file).
7. (abbreviation, alt-of, historical, initialism)Initialism of Winchester Automatic Rifle.
8. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of Women Against Registry.