as in war
a a state or period of fighting between groups of people in the same country
a region that has had many civil wars
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Recent Examples of civil war
The United States is obligated by its own laws to give military support to Taiwan, which split from China in 1949 during a civil war.
—
Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 21 Oct. 2025
What most parents don't know is that Kinzounza endured terrible trauma escaping civil war in her home country in Africa.
—Rosalind Bowling, Nashville Tennessean, 19 Oct. 2025
That peace shattered in 2011 when the civil war reached their city.
—Milena Malaver, Miami Herald, 18 Oct. 2025
Among the passengers was Qahtan Khalil, director of Syria’s air force intelligence, who was accused of being directly responsible for one of the bloodiest massacres of the country’s 13-year civil war.
—Danny Makki, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for civil war
Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 21 Oct. 2025
What most parents don't know is that Kinzounza endured terrible trauma escaping civil war in her home country in Africa.
—Rosalind Bowling, Nashville Tennessean, 19 Oct. 2025
That peace shattered in 2011 when the civil war reached their city.
—Milena Malaver, Miami Herald, 18 Oct. 2025
Among the passengers was Qahtan Khalil, director of Syria’s air force intelligence, who was accused of being directly responsible for one of the bloodiest massacres of the country’s 13-year civil war.
—Danny Makki, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for civil war
Recent Examples of Synonyms for civil war
Noun
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Rogers noted that the book argues that a central cause of the war was Anglo settlers’ determination to keep slaves in bondage after Mexico largely abolished it.—
Preston Fore,
Fortune,
25 Oct. 2025
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In the five years just before war set in, these were among the dwellings that had beguiled Heinz Gaube (1940–2022), a German academic at the Oriental Seminar of the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
25 Oct. 2025
Noun
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But interviews for that profile were conducted weeks ago, and Puck first reported earlier this week that since then, Netflix struck a deal with AMC to show KPop Demon Hunters in its theaters — a sign of thawing relations between two companies that had been engaged in a cold war since around 2019.—
Savannah Salazar,
Vulture,
23 Oct. 2025
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Since that gathering in March, what had been a cold war has gone hot.—
Alex Weprin,
HollywoodReporter,
1 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Freud's pessimism is exacerbated not only by the imminent world war, but also by painful and disfiguring oral cancer.—
Jim Higgins,
jsonline.com,
27 Oct. 2025
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This is the same logic of raw power that helped spur two world wars, and the consequences are already visible.—
Michael Beckley,
Foreign Affairs,
21 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The Raptors also played the Bucks, a 122-116 loss, with the home team bumping the game’s start time up by an hour to minimize the conflict between the two games.—
Eric Koreen,
New York Times,
25 Oct. 2025
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That is, some of the properties suffered damage during the war, but others were destroyed because the owners left the country during the conflict.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
25 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The 76ers’ owner, Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment (HBSE), had been in a holy war with the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers and Comcast over building a standalone NBA arena in Center City.—
Kurt Badenhausen,
Sportico.com,
16 Oct. 2025
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In 1992, the government pressured Muslim clerics to declare a holy war against Nuba who opposed the regime.—
Nicolas Niarchos,
New Yorker,
19 May 2025
Noun
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In contrast, China has made targeted investments intended to give it an advantage in a quick, limited war, while keeping its overall defense spending relatively modest: Beijing’s defense spending has risen from five percent of U.S. levels in 1995 to 32 percent in 2017.—
Oriana Skylar Mastro,
Foreign Affairs,
20 May 2025
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Israel and Hezbollah have engaged in a limited war since last October, but Israeli forces have significantly escalated the scope of their attacks since the beginning of September in an attempt to force Hezbollah to stop its attacks on northern Israel.—
Mike Brest,
Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government,
30 Sep. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Civil war.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/civil%20war. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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