# war

Pronunciation: US say "WOR" /wɔɹ/; UK say "WAW" /wɔː/

## Noun

1. Armed conflict between countries or between large organized groups, including irregular or terrorist forces; or a particular such conflict ('the Second World War').
   - Simple: A period of fighting with weapons between countries or large groups.
   - _Historians still argue about the real causes of the war._
   - _The war reshaped the nation's borders and its politics for decades._
2. A sustained campaign directed against a social problem, idea, or set of values.
   - Simple: A long, organized effort to fight against a problem in society, like poverty or crime.
   - _The mayor's war on litter transformed the city's streets._
   - _Their war against misinformation relied on school programs and public service announcements._
3. Any long, bitter conflict or struggle between people or groups, including a heated argument ('a war of words').
   - Simple: A long and bitter fight or argument that does not involve weapons.
   - _Keeping the rabbits out of her vegetable garden turned into a war that lasted all summer._
   - _Their rivalry became a quiet war fought through memos and meetings._
4. A prolonged instance of fierce competition between businesses or traders.
   - Simple: A long, fierce fight between businesses trying to win more customers or sales.
   - _The two supermarkets became locked in a price war, each trying to undercut the other._
   - _A long war over market share left both manufacturers selling below cost._
6. A prolonged conflict between two groups of organized criminals, usually over control of territory or operations.
   - Simple: A long, violent fight between criminal gangs, often over who controls an area.
   - _The cartels' war for the border routes left dozens dead._
   - _Police struggled to contain the war between rival crime families._
7. A family of card games in which all cards are dealt out and players try to capture them all, usually needing no skill and simply passing time.
   - Simple: A simple card game where all cards are dealt out and players try to win them all.
   - _The children passed a rainy afternoon playing war at the kitchen table._
   - _We dealt out the whole deck and played war until someone had won every card._

## Verb

5. To fight a war or carry on a long conflict, often followed by with or against.
   - Simple: To fight a war or a long struggle against someone.
   - _Neighboring states warred constantly throughout the medieval period._
   - _Border tribes still war over scarce water and land._

## Noun

8. The armed forces; a body of soldiers assembled as a fighting host. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A group of soldiers gathered together as an army.
9. A collection of weapons; the equipment and instruments used for fighting. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A collection of weapons and gear used for fighting.

## Origin

The Proto-Indo-European root *wers-, meaning "to mix up, confuse, beat, thresh," lies behind Frankish *werru ("confusion, quarrel"), which passed into Medieval Latin as werra and into Old Northern French as werre (modern French guerre). Late Old English borrowed werre, which became Middle English werre. Over time it gradually took the place of native Old English words such as beadu, hild, and wīġ as the general word for "war." Old High German werra ("strife, quarrel") is related.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/war (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).