hot wars

noun

plural of hot war
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 hot wars There are hot wars in Ukraine and Gaza, cold wars on the Korean peninsula and in the Taiwan Strait, and budding wars in Iran and parts of Africa. — Los Angeles Times, 10 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hot wars
  1. hostilities
  2. wars
  3. conflicts
Noun
  • Investigators were still trying to determine how the two groups were related to each other and what prompted hostilities.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 27 Sep. 2026
  • Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov repeated Moscow's demand for a comprehensive peace deal, not a temporary break in hostilities, following Ukraine's call for a complete and unconditional ceasefire.
    — HANNA ARHIROVA, Arkansas Online, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of hostilities
Noun
  • The wars caused massive destruction of religious and civic buildings, mills and mines, housing, crops, herds and transport infrastructure, damaging prosperity and forcing some people to move or starve.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Clashes since Wednesday in Tigray and the neighbouring regions of Amhara and Afar have shattered a 4-year-old peace deal that ended one of the century's deadliest wars.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 26 Sep. 2026
Definition of wars
Noun
  • One consideration is opening additional stores, Cenci said, citing Miami, residential areas beyond downtown Rome, Spain, and the Middle East, if conflicts there end, as possibilities.
    — David Moin, Footwear News, 30 Sep. 2026
  • The base 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of London has been used by American bombers during decades of conflicts in the Middle East, including this year’s war with Iran.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of conflicts

Browse Nearby Words

hot war
hot wars
hot water
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Hot wars.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hot%20wars. Accessed 3 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
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 tittle

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

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

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

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Oct. 2

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List
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
name tags
Words Named After People Quiz Find out who’s behind "leotard," "morphine," an...
See All