war

CEFRA1

/wɔː/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A period of fighting between countries or groups.

  2. 02

    verb

    To fight against someone or something.

Examples

  • After the war the national boundaries were redrawn.

  • Are you for the war or against it?

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
3

Also pronounced

  • /wɔ(r)/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A particular conflict of this kind.

  2. Protracted armed conflict against irregular forces, particularly groups considered terrorists.

  3. 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.

More examples

In context

  • One million people lost their lives in the war.

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

  • holy war; just war; civil war

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The two countries entered a blank after failed peace talks.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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”), W...