War Department
8
6.7
- proper noun
- /wɔr dɪˈpɑrtmənt/
- Formal
:
Departamento de Guerra
- Boards of officers considered potential candidates against standards established by the War Department.
- U.S. War Department
- War Department policy
- established by the War Department
Examples
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It's from the War Department.
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Sir, we should move to the War Department to facilitate operations.
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This is an official War Department map.
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I work for the War Department.
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Gentlemen, new orders from the War Department.
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I got a telegram from the War Department.
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Its annual budget was allocated to the War Department by Congress.
Academic text (1992) -
In May of '33, the War Department abandoned the island.
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So you contacted the War Department about becoming a spy.
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After the war, many documents were declassified and made available by the War Department.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining 'war' (military conflict) with 'department' (an organizational unit), yielding an organizational body responsible for military affairs. This noun+noun naming pattern is common across languages and in government terminology, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
War Department was a government office that was literally the Department for the War, the place that ran the country's 'army' and weapons. That's why War Department refers to the old United States government body in charge of the 'army' until it became the Department of Defense in 1947.