as in hostilities
a state of armed violent struggle between states, nations, or groups
fortunately, the cool relationship between the two nations never escalated into a hot war
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Recent Examples of hot war
China refuses to rule out the use of force to unify the island with the mainland, and a widening hard power imbalance across the Taiwan Strait is fueling concerns that Beijing could soon compel Taipei with the threat of a hot war.
—
John Feng, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 June 2025
Iran clearly wants to de-escalate its hot war with Israel, which is now in its fifth day and ostensibly over a nuclear program Israel sees as an existential threat.
—Philip Elliott, Time, 17 June 2025
The developments have led to a heightened sense of uncertainty and stress among many Americans, while a hot war in the Middle East between Israel and Iran is sparking fears of a wider global conflict the U.S. could become involved in.
—Dominick Mastrangelo, The Hill, 17 June 2025
With Trump, the thinking goes, Putin can turn a hot war into a cold one and be satisfied with that—after all, Russian military and financial resources are not unlimited.
—Andrei Kolesnikov, Foreign Affairs, 9 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for hot war
John Feng, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 June 2025
Iran clearly wants to de-escalate its hot war with Israel, which is now in its fifth day and ostensibly over a nuclear program Israel sees as an existential threat.
—Philip Elliott, Time, 17 June 2025
The developments have led to a heightened sense of uncertainty and stress among many Americans, while a hot war in the Middle East between Israel and Iran is sparking fears of a wider global conflict the U.S. could become involved in.
—Dominick Mastrangelo, The Hill, 17 June 2025
With Trump, the thinking goes, Putin can turn a hot war into a cold one and be satisfied with that—after all, Russian military and financial resources are not unlimited.
—Andrei Kolesnikov, Foreign Affairs, 9 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for hot war
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hot war
hostilities
Noun
-
The war ended with a lopsided Israeli victory, and with Iran scrambling to find more ways to punish and deter Israel if hostilities resumed.—
Graeme Wood,
The Atlantic,
2 Sep. 2025
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How did the two very different groups of men, their relations instantly tense from decades of hostilities and colonialist trauma, manage to work together toward a common goal?—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
1 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hot war.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hot%20war. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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