civil war
285
3.2
- noun
- /ˈsɪvəl wɔr/
:
guerra civil
- The country has been devastated by a long civil war that has caused widespread suffering.
- end of civil war
- lead to civil war
- conflict and civil war
We did so on civil war battlefields.
- We did so on civil war battlefields.
- And they say bluntly, the Civil War broke America.
- And he's going to inquire specifically about Civil War pistols.
- So she's lived through the Civil War, through World War One.
- Soon they will move out once more and will bring the civil war to an end.
- No one, no one who wasn't orphaned in Syria in a civil war is responsible for that.
- And when he gets assassinated, another civil war explodes.
- But it could be the next Civil War.
- Hold on, does Chief Justice Roberts really think the Civil War eliminated racial discrimination?
- Wait about the Civil war and John Denver.
- They're about to go into civil war, England in civil war.
- So lots of intra state war, civil war but no Interstate war.
- And that is what causes civil wars, types of civil wars.
Examples
-
Jamaica is on the brink of civil war.
-
In the former United States, civil war continues to devastate the Midwest.
-
And with that the second Civil War began.
-
"We have been fighting a civil war here for a long time."
Fiction book (1999) -
We were there for four years when the civil war broke out...
Fiction book (2002) -
After years of civil war, the Roman treasury was empty.
-
"Hundreds of thousands of people fled the country when the civil war began fifteen years ago.
Fiction book (1994) -
By 1964, U.S. troops were fighting the Communists in a civil war in Vietnam.
Fiction book (1998) -
"Now we are engaged in a great civil war" testing whether that nation or any nation "so conceived and so dedicated could long endure."
-
In the context of authoritarianism and civil war, political parties and unions made strategic decisions.
Academic text (1999)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A period when countries or groups fight with weapons and violence
514
2.7
A violent fight between armed groups in a war
Antonyms
How Severe
285
3.2
- Literature
54
8.4
329
4.1
578
2.5
126
3.4
268
1.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a war fought between groups or regions within the same country' is directly derivable from combining 'civil' (relating to citizens or public affairs) with 'war' (armed conflict). This composition is transparent and mirrored in many languages (e.g. Spanish 'guerra civil'), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The noun civil war combines civil (about the people of a country) and war (fighting between groups). Imagine neighbours or regions in the same nation fighting each other, and that clear image is why civil war means 'a war fought between groups or regions within the same country'.