war footing

noun

: the condition of being prepared to undertake or maintain war

Examples of war footing in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Russian planners may also have assumed that Ukraine’s forces would not be ready because the Ukrainian government did not move to a war footing until a few weeks before the invasion. Dara Massicot, Foreign Affairs, 8 Feb. 2023 The debate has grown more fierce since Israel launched its invasion of Gaza in response to Hamas’ October 7 terror attack, which has put the country on a war footing for nearly six months with the prospect of more to come. Mick Krever, CNN, 29 Mar. 2024 Renault has become the latest EV group to place itself on a war footing with Chinese Tesla-killer BYD, and the French carmaker’s boss is harking back to the 1940s for a plan to help Europe’s carmakers fight off rising threats from the Far East. Byryan Hogg, Fortune Europe, 21 Mar. 2024 Earlier Monday, Blinken had been rushed to a bunker by his diplomatic security service agents for several minutes after rocket sirens went off in Tel Aviv, punctuating the war footing the area is on. Donald J. Mihalek, ABC News, 17 Oct. 2023 See all Example Sentences for war footing 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'war footing.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1800, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of war footing was in 1800

Dictionary Entries Near war footing

Cite this Entry

“War footing.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/war%20footing. Accessed 2 Nov. 2024.

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