How do you use the word "war" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "war": One million people lost their lives in the war. Are you for the war or against it?

War Meaning

/wɔː/

Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounOrganized, large-scale, armed conflict between countries or between national, ethnic, or other sizeable groups, usually but not always involving active engagement of military forces.

nounA particular conflict of this kind.

Sentence Examples

One million people lost their lives in the war.

Are you for the war or against it?

After the war the national boundaries were redrawn.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

warfare

Antonyms:

peace

CEFR Practice Quiz

The two countries entered a ____ after failed peace talks.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The museum features several an interesting exhibit about the history of the ____ and its impact on the nation today.

Word Origin & History

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.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"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." — 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 1:10:

"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." — 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 13:7:

"Here Lee and Longstreet stood during most of the fighting [at Fredericksburg], and it is told that, on one of the Federal repulses from Marye's Hill, Lee put his hand upon Longstreet's arm and said, "It is well that war is so terrible, or we would grow too fond of it."" — 1907, Edward Porter Alexander, Military Memoirs of a Confederate, page 302:

"Nobody can deny that war is a profitable business for those who like that kind of money. War is an orgy of money, just as it is an orgy of blood." — 1922, Henry Ford, Samuel Crowther, chapter 17, in My Life and Work, Garden City, New York: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc., →OCLC:

"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives... Of course, it isn't put that crudely in war time. It is dressed into speeches about patriotism, love of country, and "we must all put our shoulders to the wheel," but the profits jump and leap and skyrocket—and are safely pocketed." — 1935, Smedley Butler, War Is a Racket, page 1 & 7:

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