war

war

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Pronunciation

IPA Phonetic Spelling:

• /wɔːr/ (General American, Received Pronunciation)

• w - /w/ (as in "we")

• ar - /ɔːr/ (as in "for" or "door")

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Word Form Variations

Noun:

• Singular: war

• Plural: wars

Verb:

• Base form: war

• Third person singular present: wars

• Present participle: warring

• Past tense: warred

• Past participle: warred

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Definitions, Synonyms and Antonyms

Noun

1. A state of armed conflict between different countries, states, or groups, characterized by extreme aggression, destruction, and loss of life.

• Synonyms: conflict, combat, hostilities, fighting, battle, strife, warfare

• Antonyms: peace, harmony, truce, armistice, reconciliation, accord

2. A sustained, aggressive effort or campaign against an undesirable situation or problem.

• Synonyms: campaign, struggle, fight, battle, crusade, offensive

• Antonyms: surrender, capitulation, peace, truce, acceptance

3. A period during which an armed conflict takes place.

• Synonyms: era of conflict, time of battle, wartime, period of hostilities

• Antonyms: peacetime, era of peace, calm

Verb

1. To engage in armed conflict; to fight or make war. (Often used with "against" or "with")

• Synonyms: fight, battle, combat, contend, struggle, clash

• Antonyms: reconcile, make peace, coexist, agree

2. To be in conflict or opposition with something or someone. (Often used figuratively)

• Synonyms: contend, struggle, oppose, clash, dispute

• Antonyms: agree, harmonize, cooperate, concur

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Examples of Use

• Books:

• "War is what happens when language fails." (Margaret Atwood, The Robber Bride, 1993)

• Newspapers:

• "The humanitarian crisis in the region has deepened as the civil war enters its third year." (Reuters)

• Online Publications:

• "Cybersecurity experts warn of an escalating cyber war between nation-states, with critical infrastructure as a primary target." (TechCrunch)

• Various Entertainment Mediums and Platforms:

• "May the odds be ever in your favor." (From The Hunger Games, a dystopian novel and film series where children fight to the death in a televised event, highlighting societal control through televised 'games' which are a form of political warfare; film release 2012)

• "I've got a good feeling about this." (From Star Wars: A New Hope, 1977, a science fiction film franchise centrally focused on galactic warfare)

• "This is going to be an all-out war for market share in the streaming industry." (Commentator on a business podcast, "Market Insights,")

• General Public Discourse:

• "The city launched a war on litter, urging residents to help keep public spaces clean." (Local government announcement)

• "After years of warring factions, the ceasefire agreement offers a glimmer of hope for peace."

• "The cost of living crisis feels like a constant war on our wallets."

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10 Quotes Using War

1. "War is sweet to those who have never experienced it." (Erasmus)

2. "The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his." (George S. Patton)

3. "All war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal." (John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, 1939)

4. "Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die." (Herbert Hoover)

5. "Only the dead have seen the end of war." (Plato – widely attributed, though likely a paraphrase of various ancient Greek texts)

6. "If war is to be abolished, it will be by the abolition of the spirit of war, not by the abolition of the instruments of war." (Simone Weil)

7. "In war, truth is the first casualty." (Aeschylus)

8. "War does not determine who is right - only who is left." (Bertrand Russell)

9. "War hath no fury like a non-combatant." (C.E. Montague)

10. "The war on poverty is not a war on the poor." (Lyndon B. Johnson, 1964)

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Etymology

The word "war" has a powerful and ancient origin, connected to conflict and confusion.

It comes from the Old Northern French word "werre" (which later became "guerre" in modern French). This word "werre" meant "hostilities," "conflict," or "a state of open armed conflict."

This Old Northern French term itself traces its roots back to *Proto-Germanic, specifically the word "werso-," which meant "to confuse, mix up," or "to embroil." This suggests that the earliest sense of the word was linked to chaos, disorder, and the entanglement that arises from conflict.

So, the first known use of "war" in English, appearing around the late 11th or early 12th century, after the Norman Conquest, brought with it this Northern French meaning of "open armed conflict between hostile parties." It quickly became the dominant term for such conflict, replacing older Old English words like "ġewinn" or "hild."

Therefore, the etymology of "war" takes us from a very old Germanic idea of confusion and entanglement to the Old French concept of hostilities, finally arriving in English to describe large-scale armed conflict.

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Phrases + Idioms Containing War

Here's a list of phrases and idioms using "war":

• Go to war

• Declare war

• Wage war

• Cold War

• Proxy war

• War on drugs

• War of words

• All's fair in love and war

• The fog of war

• Rules of war

• War footing (a state of readiness for war)

• Spoils of war

• War chest

• War hawk (using a synonym for similar effect)

• War-torn

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Vocabulary-Based Stories from SEA

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Source Information

Definition of war from The Academic Glossary at Self Exploration Academy, a Urikville Press Publication. © All rights reserved.

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