civil war

noun

plural civil wars

: a war between opposing groups of citizens of the same country

a country on the brink of (a) civil war

—often used in the capitalized names of specific wars

the Spanish Civil War

(American/U.S.) Civil War monuments

Note: The American Civil War, fought 1861–1865 between the United States and 11 southern states that had seceded from it, is also commonly known as the U.S. Civil War, or especially in the U.S. as the War Between the States or simply the Civil War.

Examples of civil war in a Sentence

a region that has had many civil wars

The country is on the brink of civil war.

Recent Examples on the Web

Iran and Russia worked together to keep Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power after the onset of civil war in 2011. —Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Foreign Affairs, 23 Apr. 2024

Kanye’s remix, as of now, has yet to hit streaming platforms and there are murmurs online of a version also featuring Pusha T. All of which suggests rap’s ongoing civil war won’t be concluding any time soon. —Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 21 Apr. 2024

By Hannah Beech Photographs by Adam Ferguson Hannah Beech, who has been covering Myanmar for nearly 20 years, recently spent a week reporting at a front line of the civil war. —Hannah Beech Adam Ferguson, New York Times, 20 Apr. 2024

The report found that expectations of civil war have become less common, decreasing from 13.7% in 2022 to 5.7% in 2023. —Andrew Sheeler, Sacramento Bee, 15 Apr. 2024

Countries that are geographically closer to the EU’s southern borders, like Greece, Italy and Malta, have seen vast numbers of people coming from the Middle East and North Africa in the aftermath of the Arab Spring and Syrian civil war. —Luke McGee, CNN, 10 Apr. 2024

Rather than two hours of pointing fingers, Garland is more interested in depicting the effect of a civil war rather than the cause. —Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 10 Apr. 2024

Cole’s work on the effects of civil war in Liberia won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. —Greg Braxton, Los Angeles Times, 16 Apr. 2024

Kirsten Dunst Documents a Divided America — Under a President Nick Offerman — in Shocking Civil War Trailer Little information is given throughout writer-director Alex Garland's film on how a modern civil war in broke out. —Tommy McArdle, Peoplemag, 13 Apr. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1533, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

civil war

noun

: a war between opposing groups of citizens of the same country or nation