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
By April 2023, the dispute had evolved into civil war, as the RSF launched a series of attacks against government and military positions nationwide, seizing parts of the country's capital, Khartoum, and other smaller cities.
—
Mandy Taheri, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Oct. 2025
Hundreds of years of civil war preceded the fall of the Roman Empire.
—Anne Victoria Clark, Vulture, 29 Oct. 2025
Erivo's mother Edith raised her and her sister in London after her parents fled Nigeria's civil war years earlier, according to the outlet.
—Tommy McArdle, PEOPLE, 28 Oct. 2025
Related Stories The film opens in 1974 as civil war refugees flee toward the Thai border.
—Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 27 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for civil war
Mandy Taheri, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Oct. 2025
Hundreds of years of civil war preceded the fall of the Roman Empire.
—Anne Victoria Clark, Vulture, 29 Oct. 2025
Erivo's mother Edith raised her and her sister in London after her parents fled Nigeria's civil war years earlier, according to the outlet.
—Tommy McArdle, PEOPLE, 28 Oct. 2025
Related Stories The film opens in 1974 as civil war refugees flee toward the Thai border.
—Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 27 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for civil war
Recent Examples of Synonyms for civil war
Noun
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Just a few months ago, McKenna was weighing the two schools against each other, the Spartans finishing as runners-up in his historic recruiting war.—
Scott Wheeler,
New York Times,
9 Nov. 2025
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From the very first days of the First World War, the German Empire was looking for someone capable of sparking a revolution in Russia and forcing the country to withdraw from the war with Germany — so that the Germans could focus their forces on fighting the British and the French.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
8 Nov. 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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In fact, winning independence required a world war in all but name.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 Nov. 2025
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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
Noun
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As is often the case when Arsenal and Chelsea meet, this match had the potential to be one of those gloriously uninhibited conflicts.—
Megan Feringa,
New York Times,
9 Nov. 2025
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As for South Sudan, a senior United Nations official said earlier this week that the ongoing conflict in Sudan is causing destabilization in South Sudan, including armed clashes and food insecurity.—
Dan Gooding,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Nov. 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 9 Nov. 2025.
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