war
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Alternative forms
- warre (obsolete)
[edit] Etymology
From Middle English werre, from Late Old English werre, wyrre "armed conflict" from Old Northern French werre (compare Old French guerre, gwerre), of Germanic origin, from Frankish *werra "confusion, strife" from Proto-Germanic *werzō, *werza- (“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.
[edit] Pronunciation
- IPA: /woʊr/, /wɔː(r)/, SAMPA: /wO:(r)/
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Audio (US) (file) -
Audio (UK) (file) - Homophone: wore (some dialects)
- Rhymes: -ɔː(r)
[edit] Noun
Wikipedia Wikipedia war (countable and uncountable; plural wars)
- (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.
- 1917, Henry Ford, My Life and Work, Chapter 17:
- (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.
- 1865, Herman Melville, "The Surrender at Appomattox":
- (countable) By extension, any conflict, or anything resembling a conflict.
- (rhetorical) 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.
- (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.
- (rhetorical) A campaign against something.
- (uncountable) A particular card game for two players.
[edit] Antonyms
[edit] Derived terms
Terms derived from war
[edit] Translations
conflict involving organized use of arms
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rhetorical: campaign against something
business competition
card game
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
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[edit] See also
[edit] Verb
war (third-person singular simple present wars, present participle warring, simple past and past participle warred)
- (intransitive) To engage in conflict.
- circa 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.
- circa 1599, William Shakespeare, King Henry V, act 3, sc. 1:
[edit] Translations
to engage in conflict
[edit] Statistics
[edit] Anagrams
[edit] Breton
[edit] Preposition
war
[edit] Dutch
[edit] Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ɑr
[edit] Noun
war c. (plural warren)
- tangle, mess
- confusion, disarray
- a kind of contraption for luring and catching fish (e.g. by tangling them up in nets)
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] German
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Verb
war
[edit] Kurdish
[edit] Noun
war
[edit] Low German
[edit] Adjective
war
[edit] Luxembourgish
[edit] Verb
war
- first-person singular preterite indicative of sinn
- third-person singular preterite indicative of sinn
[edit] Old High German
[edit] Adjective
wār
[edit] Tocharian B
[edit] Noun
war
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Old Northern French
- English terms derived from Germanic languages
- English terms derived from Frankish
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from Latin
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Business
- English verbs
- 1000 English basic words
- English terms derived from French
- Breton prepositions
- Dutch nouns
- German terms with homophones
- German verb forms
- German verb first-person forms
- German verb singular forms
- German verb preterite forms
- German verb third-person forms
- Kurdish nouns
- Low German adjectives
- Luxembourgish verb forms
- Old High German adjectives
- Tocharian B nouns
