1,400 new words in our dictionary! — Parasocial, glow-up, promposal & more
1,400 new words in our dictionary! — More

cold war

noun

Definition of cold warnext
as in world war

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of cold war Xi Jinping is angling to win a cold war with the United States. — ABC News, 12 May 2026 Per a source, that cold war continued through the offseason. — Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 7 Apr. 2026 And that means that if the hot war ends, but Iran ends up in another cold war, that would be as fatal to the regime as the continuation of the hot war. — Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2026 The theory posited that wars in the post-cold war era would be fought along religious divides, bringing the West and the Islamic states such as Iran to clash. — Debidatta A. Mahapatra, The Orlando Sentinel, 7 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for cold war
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cold war
  1. world war
  2. civil war
  3. holy war
  4. limited war
Noun
  • Born in 1946, in a country recovering from a civil war and a world war, Rodríguez entered a life marked by poverty in the southern Spanish village of Añora.
    — Laura Sharman, CNN Money, 22 Aug. 2026
  • But for the most part, today’s athletes weren’t shaped by the Great Depression and a world war.
    — Mike Bianchi, The Orlando Sentinel, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of world war
Noun
  • The film offers a portrait of a remote Salvadoran village whose inhabitants carry the memory of a massacre during the country’s civil war.
    — Leo Barraclough, Variety, 16 Sep. 2026
  • Akok, 71, was appointed as chairperson of the electoral body in August 2012 and reappointed in November 2023 after the commission was reconstituted under a 2018 peace agreement that ended a five-year civil war.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of civil war
Noun
  • Yet, somehow, the labels jihad, holy war and suicide martyrs are still thrown around.
    — Reshma Memon Yaqub, Rolling Stone, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Even a local Catholic priest launched a holy war against the school over its new athletic facility.
    — Matthew Sedacca, Curbed, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of holy war
Noun
  • In this scenario, which may already be coming to fruition, the meager hope is that the conflict transforms into simply a more limited war.
    — Daniel Byman, Foreign Affairs, 5 Apr. 2024
  • Many scholars panned the book, believing its 34-year-old author had overestimated the nation’s ability to keep limited war limited.
    — David E. Sanger, New York Times, 30 Nov. 2023
Definition of limited war

Browse Nearby Words

cold turkey
cold war
cold wars
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Cold war.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cold%20war. Accessed 19 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on cold war

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about cold war

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of aggrandize

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

Words from the 'Odyssey'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 18
See More

Popular

See More

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
crayons-in-a-circle
Guess the Color Quiz Questions that use the whole box of crayons.
See All