warfare

Formswarfares, warfaring, warfared

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The waging of war or armed conflict carried out against an enemy.

   Trench warfare defined much of the fighting in the First World War.

   The peace treaty finally brought years of brutal warfare to an end.

   Similarfighting, combat, hostilities, conflict

   Oppositepeace

   Note

   Behind the word is a journey: war plus fare, perhaps shortened from Middle English werre-faringe, literally "going to war". The King James Bible of 1611 already gathers the Philistines' armies "for warfare". It is usually uncountable, so one says warfare and not a warfare. The word names the ongoing activity of fighting, while war more readily names a particular conflict with a beginning and an end.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   Military operations of a particular kind, such as guerrilla, naval, or chemical warfare.

   Guerrilla warfare allowed the rebels to harass a far stronger occupying force.

   Chemical warfare was banned by international treaty after the First World War.

   Similarfighting, combat

   Note

   In this meaning the word rarely stands alone, because a modifier in front of it does the naming. Some modifiers name a method (guerrilla, psychological), some a setting (naval), and some a class of weapon (chemical). Take the modifier away and the phrase slides back into the general act of waging war. It stays usually uncountable here too: one writes about naval warfare, not a naval warfare.

3. 3
   verbintransitive

   To lead the life of a soldier and wage wars continually.

   The clans would warfare ceaselessly, raiding one another through every season.

   Those who warfare for a lifetime grow weary of the camp and the march.

   Similarfight, battle, soldier

   Note

   A verb made directly from the noun and conjugated like any regular verb: warfares, warfaring, warfared. The participle carries an old echo, since the Middle English werfarynge that may lie behind the noun already meant "waging war". The verb describes a way of life rather than a single campaign. It takes no object and sits naturally with words of duration, such as ceaselessly or for a lifetime.

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