English - Alternative Forms

• warre (obsolete)

English - Etymology

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.

English - Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wɔː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /wɔɹ/
• Homophone: wore (some dialects)
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)

English - Noun

Wikipedia Wikipedia

war (countable and uncountable, plural wars)

1. (uncountable) Organized, large-scale, armed conflict between countries or between national, ethnic, or other sizeable groups, usually involving the engagement of military forces.
   • 1917, Henry Ford, My Life and Work, Chapter 17:

     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.

   • 2007, Carlos Ramirez-Faria, Concise Encyclopaedia of World History:

     Germany declared war on France, who reciprocated, on August 3 [1939], and England declared war on Germany on August 4, when Belgium was already under invasion.

   The war was largely between Sunni and Shia militants.

2. (countable) A particular conflict of this kind.
   • 1865, Herman Melville, "The Surrender at Appomattox":

     All human tribes glad token see

     In the close of the wars of Grant and Lee.

   • 1999, Bill Clinton at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C, November 8 1999:

     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.

3. (countable) By extension, any conflict, or anything resembling a conflict.

   You look like you've been through the wars.

   1. (figuratively) A campaign against something.

      The "war on drugs" is a campaign against the use of narcotic drugs.

      The "war on terror" is a campaign against terrorist crime.

      In the US, conservatives rail against the "war on Christmas".

   2. (business, countable) A bout of fierce competition in trade.

      I reaped the benefit of the car dealerships' price war, getting my car for far less than it's worth.

      The cellular phone companies were engaged in a freebie war, each offering various services thrown in when one purchased a plan.

4. (obsolete, uncountable) Instruments of war.
   • Prior

     His complement of stores, and total war.

5. (obsolete) Armed forces.
   • Milton

     On their embattled ranks the waves return, / And overwhelm their war.

6. (uncountable) A particular card game for two players, notable for having its outcome predetermined by how the cards are dealt.
   • 2004, Karen Salyer McElmurray, Strange Birds in the Tree of Heaven

     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.

Antonyms

• peace

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• battle

English - Verb

war (third-person singular simple present wars, present participle warring, simple past and past participle warred)

1. (intransitive) To engage in conflict (may be followed by "with" to specify the foe).
   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, King Henry V, act 3, sc. 1:

     Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more . . .

     Be copy now to men of grosser blood,

     And teach them how to war.

   • 1882, George Bernard Shaw, Cashel Byron's Profession, ch. 14:

     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.

   To war the Scot, and borders to defend. — Daniel.

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

   That thou […] mightest war a good warfare. — Tim. i. 18.

Translations

English - Anagrams

• raw
• Rwa, RWA

Biak - Etymology

From Proto-Halmahera-Cenderawasih *waiʀ, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

Biak - Noun

war

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

Breton - Preposition

war

1. on, over, ...

   war ar sizhun ― during the week

Dutch - Etymology

From Middle Dutch werre, warre (“confusion, disarray, conflict”), from Old Dutch *werra, from Proto-Germanic *werrō. Cognate with English war, which was loaned via Frankish and Old Northern French.

Dutch - Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɑr

Dutch - Noun

war f (plural warren, diminutive warretje n)

1. confusion, disarray
2. tangle, mess
3. a kind of contraption for luring and catching fish (e.g. by tangling them up in nets)

Derived terms

• in de war brengen
• verwarren
• ontwarren
• warrig
• warhoofd
• warboel

Dutch Low Saxon - Alternative Forms

• (Low Prussian) wahr

Dutch Low Saxon - Etymology

Cognate to German wahr.

Dutch Low Saxon - Adjective

war

1. (in some dialects) true

Elfdalian - Etymology

From Old Norse hvar, from Proto-Germanic *hwar. Cognate with Swedish var.

Elfdalian - Adverb

war

1. where, in what place

German - Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vaːɐ̯/
• Homophone: wahr

German - Verb

war

1. First-person singular preterite of sein.
   • 1788, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Egmont

     Ich hätte ihn heiraten können, und glaube, ich war nie in ihn verliebt.

     I could have married him; yet I believe I was never really in love with him.

2. Third-person singular preterite of sein.
   • 1788, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Egmont

     Gott tröst' ihn! Das war ein Herr!

     God bless him! He was a king indeed!

Kurdish - Noun

war m

1. place

Luxembourgish - Verb

war

1. first-person singular preterite indicative of sinn
2. third-person singular preterite indicative of sinn

Old High German - Adjective

wār

1. true

Old Saxon - Adjective

wār

1. true

Declension

Tocharian B - Etymology

From Proto-Tocharian *wär, from Proto-Indo-European *wódr̥ (“water”) through a regular (endocentric) thematicization *udrom. Compare Tocharian A wär.

Tocharian B - Noun

war

1. water

See also

• āp

قافية