war-game

1 of 2

verb

ˈwȯr-ˌgām 

war-gamed; war-gaming; war-games

transitive verb

: to plan or conduct in the manner of a war game

… war-gamed an invasion …

—Newsweek

intransitive verb

: to conduct a war game

war game

2 of 2

noun

1

: a simulated battle or campaign to test military concepts and usually conducted in conferences by officers acting as the opposing staffs

2

: a two-sided umpired training maneuver with actual elements of the armed forces participating

Examples of war-game in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

So, in June 2023, the Israelis war-gamed the kind of strike that would ultimately take out the ayatollah, according to Israeli sources. —CBS News, 5 Mar. 2026

That Democratic effort includes war-gaming different potential election scenarios, working on litigation and crafting messaging, Morelle said. —Justin Papp, CNBC, 27 Feb. 2026

Noun

Alarmingly, in simulated war games designed to mirror Cold-War-style nuclear crises, AI models overwhelmingly escalated toward nuclear options, choosing tactical nuclear action in 95% of scenarios and rarely opting for de-escalation. —Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 3 Mar. 2026

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard conducted war games this week in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital trade choke point for global oil flows. —Spencer Kimball, CNBC, 18 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Verb

1923, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Noun

1871, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for war-game

• acclaim
• aflame
• airframe
• ballgame
• became
• declaim
• defame
• disclaim
• doorframe
• exclaim
• inflame
• mainframe