war

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A state of open, armed, often prolonged conflict carried on between nations, states, or parties.
2. n. The period of such conflict.
3. n. The techniques and procedures of war; military science.
4. n. A condition of active antagonism or contention: a war of words; a price war.
5. n. A concerted effort or campaign to combat or put an end to something considered injurious: the war against acid rain.
6. v. To wage or carry on warfare.
7. v. To be in a state of hostility or rivalry; contend.
8. idiom. at war In an active state of conflict or contention.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A contest beween nations or states (international war), or between parties in the same state (civil war), carried on by force of arms. International or public war is always understood to be authorized by the sovereign powers of the nations engaged in it; when it is carried into the territories of the antagonist it is called an aggressive or offensive war, and when carried on to resist such aggression it is called defensive. Certain usages or rights of war have come to be generally recognized and defined under the name of the Laws of War, which in general (but subject to some humane restrictions which in recent times have been greatly increased) permit the destruction or capture of armed enemies, the destruction of property likely to be serviceablo to them, the stoppage of all their channels of traffic, and the appropriation of everything in an enemy's country necessary for the support and subsistence of the invading army. On the other hand, though an enemy may be starved into surrender, wounding, except in battle, mutilation, and all cruel and wanton devastation are contrary to the usages of war, as are also bombarding an unprotected town, the use of poison in any way, and torture to extort information from an enemy: but it is admitted that an enemy may be put to death for certain acts which are in themselves not criminal, and it may be even highly patriotic and praiseworthy, but are injurious to the invaders, such as firing on the invaders although not regularly enrolled in an organized military force, or seeking to impair the invaders' lines of communication.
2. n. A state of active opposition, hostility, or contest: as, to be at war (that is, engaged in active hostilities).
3. n. Any kind of contest or conflict; contention; strife: as, a wordy war.
4. n. The profession of arms; the art of war.
5. n. Forces; army. Compare battle.
6. n. Warlike outfit.
7. n. Specifically— In Roman history, the war between Sulla and Marius (commencing 88 b. c.) or that between Pompey and Cæsar (commencing 49 b. c.)
8. n. In English history, the war of the great rebellion. See rebellion.
9. n. In United States history, the war of secession. See secession.
10. n. of 1828–9, ending in the defeat of Turkey;
11. n. of 1853–6 (see Crimean);
12. n. of 1877–8, between Russia and its allies (Rumania, etc.) and Turkey, resulting in the defeat of Turkey and the reconstruction of southeastern Europe.
13. n. 343–341 b. c.
14. n. 326–304 b. c.
15. n. 298–290 b. c., ending in the triumph of Rome.
16. To make or carry on war; carry on hostilities; fight.
17. To contend; strive violently; be in a state of opposition.
18. To make war upon; oppose, as in war; contend against.
19. To carry on, as a contest.
20. Same as worse.
21. To defeat; worst.
22. A Middle English form of ware.
23. A Middle English form of were.

Wiktionary

1. n. uncountable Organized, large-scale, armed conflict between countries or between national, ethnic, or other sizeable groups, usually involving the engagement of military forces.
2. n. countable A particular conflict of this kind.
3. n. countable By extension, any conflict, or anything resembling a conflict.
4. n. uncountable A particular card game for two players, notable for having its outcome predetermined by how the cards are dealt.
5. v. intransitive To engage in conflict (may be followed by "with" to specify the foe).
6. v. To carry on, as a contest; to wage.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. adj. obsolete Ware; aware.
2. n. A contest between nations or states, carried on by force, whether for defence, for revenging insults and redressing wrongs, for the extension of commerce, for the acquisition of territory, for obtaining and establishing the superiority and dominion of one over the other, or for any other purpose; armed conflict of sovereign powers; declared and open hostilities.
3. n. (Law) A condition of belligerency to be maintained by physical force. In this sense, levying war against the sovereign authority is treason.
4. n. Poetic Instruments of war.
5. n. Poetic Forces; army.
6. n. The profession of arms; the art of war.
7. n. a state of opposition or contest; an act of opposition; an inimical contest, act, or action; enmity; hostility.
8. v. To make war; to invade or attack a state or nation with force of arms; to carry on hostilities; to be in a state by violence.
9. v. To contend; to strive violently; to fight.
10. v. rare To make war upon; to fight.
11. v. rare To carry on, as a contest; to wage.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the waging of armed conflict against an enemy
2. v. make or wage war
3. n. an active struggle between competing entities
4. n. a concerted campaign to end something that is injurious
5. n. a legal state created by a declaration of war and ended by official declaration during which the international rules of war apply