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 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
Los Angeles Times, 10 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hot wars
Noun
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The onset of hostilities was enough to persuade around a hundred and eighty Democrats to support the measure.—
Jason Zengerle,
New Yorker,
18 May 2026
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Russia and Ukraine accused each other of repeatedly violating the pause in hostilities.—
Samya Kullab,
Los Angeles Times,
17 May 2026
Noun
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The command post at Port of Shuaiba was similar to structures commonplace during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — before the rise of drone warfare.—
Michael Kaplan,
CBS News,
19 May 2026
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For example, a large body of research looks at gender imbalances after wars, when societies lose large numbers of young men.—
Greg Rosalsky,
NPR,
19 May 2026
Noun
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While the Federal Reserve has kept its benchmark interest rate on hold so far in 2026, inflation surged in March and April on the back of a rising oil price, overseas conflicts and geopolitical uncertainty.—
Matt Richardson,
CBS News,
19 May 2026
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Recent conflicts have accelerated interest in unmanned maritime warfare.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
19 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hot wars.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hot%20wars. Accessed 22 May. 2026.
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