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
Landslide in western Sudan kills at least 1,000 A landslide in western Sudan killed at least 1,000 people, intensifying hardship in a country besieged by years of civil war.
—
Tasneem Nashrulla, semafor.com, 4 Sep. 2025
Set in the 1980s during Sri Lanka’s civil war, 16-year-old Sashi dreams of becoming a doctor.
—Eliana Ramage
september 4, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
Famine was officially declared there last year; the United Nations reports that some 25 million Sudanese face extreme hunger and at least 12 million have had to flee their homes because of civil war.
—Nicholas Kristof, Mercury News, 3 Sep. 2025
While the two nations have since avoided all-out conflict, Israel began conducting regular strikes against Syria after the country erupted in civil war in 2011.
—Tom O'Connor, MSNBC Newsweek, 2 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for civil war
Tasneem Nashrulla, semafor.com, 4 Sep. 2025
Set in the 1980s during Sri Lanka’s civil war, 16-year-old Sashi dreams of becoming a doctor.
—Eliana Ramage
september 4, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
Famine was officially declared there last year; the United Nations reports that some 25 million Sudanese face extreme hunger and at least 12 million have had to flee their homes because of civil war.
—Nicholas Kristof, Mercury News, 3 Sep. 2025
While the two nations have since avoided all-out conflict, Israel began conducting regular strikes against Syria after the country erupted in civil war in 2011.
—Tom O'Connor, MSNBC Newsweek, 2 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for civil war
Recent Examples of Synonyms for civil war
Noun
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All Quiet on the Western Front is a visually graphic portrayal of the horrors of war, earning four Academy Awards in 2023 — including Best International Feature Film.—
Jacqueline Weiss,
PEOPLE,
7 Sep. 2025
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Presumably, this is because those players lost their ‘development’ period — their early teenage years — to the war.—
Michael Cox,
New York Times,
6 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The border cold war finally thawed, and over the next decade-plus the schools slowly renewed acquaintances in several sports, including men’s basketball.—
Blair Kerkhoff,
Kansas City Star,
31 Aug. 2025
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Some of the largest states in the union are currently engaged in a cold war over the House of Representatives, which the Republicans hold with a single-digits majority.—
Amanda Castro
Hannah Parry,
MSNBC Newsweek,
20 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Maybe not something drastic like a world war, slavery or the Holocaust, but there’s always shady s–t going on.—
Carl Lamarre,
Billboard,
3 Sep. 2025
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By the late 1930s, the United States was unprepared for the scale of airpower a world war would demand.—
Kaif Shaikh,
Interesting Engineering,
26 Aug. 2025
Noun
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And if someone begins filming you during the potential conflict?—
Toria Sheffield,
PEOPLE,
7 Sep. 2025
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The country is also the site of the Western Hemisphere’s longest-running internal armed conflict, and constitutionally requires all men between the ages of 18 and 24 to undertake some form of military service.—
Rebecca Johns,
Miami Herald,
6 Sep. 2025
Noun
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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
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While Tedesco calls for a holy war in response to the attack, Benitez takes a different approach, declaring that violence should not be met with more violence.—
Randall Colburn,
EW.com,
22 Apr. 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 10 Sep. 2025.
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