shooting war

English

Noun

shooting war (plural shooting wars)

1. An outright war between military powers.

   Coordinate terms: cold war, war of nerves

Further reading

• “shooting war”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “shooting war”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “shooting war”, in Collins English Dictionary.