at war
186
4.1
- idiom
:
en guerra
- Many civilians suffer greatly when the country is at war.
- countries at war
- nations at war
- states at war
But your life when you are at war is simple.
- But your life when you are at war is simple.
- The biological term meant it was now at war with sexism and racism too.
- Apparently Spain just fucking didn't tell them that we were at war, and they had no clue.
- Like, yeah, we're at war, but they're just like busy.
- The irony is you're at war, but you're, you're more at war with yourself.
- Will you tell me why the core is at war and what I must do to stop it?
- You know, I mean, I don't believe they think they're at war.
- And it begs the question, if the whole world is at war, then is the World War over?
- And that happens in male only spaces or on the sports field or at war.
- It's just do you know, if you like, if you think of it like humans have been at war for so long, like it's so, it's so natural.
Examples
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The history of our first three months at war must be painted in somber colors.
Academic text (1991) -
Well, we are at war.
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But your life when you are at war is simple.
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We make a lot of money at war, weapons and all this.
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England was at war, at war with its own king and at war with itself.
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I want to ask him if he feels he is at war with the United States.
Fiction book (1993) -
India has been at war with two of its neighbors in recent decades.
Academic text (2011) -
When you're at war, anything goes, right?
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And I was born on the losing side at war, a war between communism and democracy.
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And what's happening there right now, like the country that I come from, Armenia is at war right now this very moment.
Synonyms
63
3.9
In serious conflict with someone or something
Groups or countries that fight each other
Troops that are active in battle
Taking part in fighting during a battle
Antonyms
How Hostile
Surface Forms
Morphology
at + war
The meaning 'engaged in active conflict' is directly derivable from the preposition 'at' (marking location/state) combined with 'war' (sustained armed conflict); the construction follows a common preposition + noun pattern (e.g. 'at peace') that signals a state. This pattern and equivalent expressions exist in many languages (e.g. Spanish 'en guerra', French 'en guerre'), so a B1 learner who knows 'at' and 'war' will very likely understand 'at war'.
Etymology
At war comes from the simple picture of armies on a battlefield ready to fight. Being literally 'at war' meant 'to fight', so we now use at war for any people or groups who are in strong conflict or arguing.