war story

noun

: a story of a memorable personal experience typically involving an element of danger, hardship, or adventure

politicians swapping war stories from past campaigns

Did you know?

People have been telling stories about real wars since long before Washington Irving wrote the following in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: "folks . . . sat smoking at one end of the piazza, . . . drawing out long stories about the war." But today tellers of "war stories" need not have experienced a literal battlefield. Around the middle of the 19th century, "war story" took on a more figurative meaning, and nowadays such accounts can encompass challenges in the workplace, on the campaign trail, in sports, in one's travels . . . wherever difficulties need to be overcome.

Examples of war story in a Sentence

He liked to tell war stories from his life as a sea captain. We exchanged war stories about our time as interns at the same company.

Recent Examples on the Web Use War Stories To Build Camaraderie The military often uses war stories to build camaraderie among the troops and build pride in their unit. —

Scott Andrew, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024 For 11 seasons, Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) and Roz Doyle (Peri Gilpin) sat across from each other at KACL, trading barbs, sharing dating war stories, and providing the occasional shoulder to lean on. —

Lester Fabian Brathwaite, EW.com, 1 Dec. 2023 To reverse this problem, create venues and spaces for employees to share ideas and tell war stories, celebrating failures as well as successes. —

Ann Kowal Smith, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024 Mike Mountain Horse, a member of the Indigenous Kainai Nation, recounted his wartime experiences to Ambrose Two Chiefs, who inscribed them on a buffalo skin to create a traditional war story robe. —

Anne Wallentine, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 Jan. 2024 These anecdotes, such as a grandparent’s old war story, can help in the research process. —

Tracy Scott Forson, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Feb. 2024 Ever since Homer decided to sort the heroes from the villains at the gates of Troy, the stakes in a war story are always exceptionally high. —

Elliot Ackerman, The Atlantic, 18 Jan. 2024 Items like Cabbage Patch Kids, Pokemon cards and the Nintendo Wii often call to mind war stories told at family gatherings after all the gifts are open. —

Rob Wieland, Forbes, 11 Dec. 2023 The war stories teachers swap about nightmare parents are the stuff of legend. —

Sarah Chaves, The Atlantic, 18 Sep. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'war story.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.