Download the app
educalingo
Search
If there is a God, the phrase that must disgust him is - holy war.
Steve Allen

Meaning of "holy war" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

PRONUNCIATION OF HOLY WAR

holy war play
facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsapp

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF HOLY WAR

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Holy war is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES HOLY WAR MEAN IN ENGLISH?

holy war

Religious war

A religious war is a war caused by, or justified by, differences in religion. The European wars of religion of the 16th and 17th centuries are the classical example, often referred to simply as "the wars of religion". Earlier wars also frequently cited as "religious wars" include the Muslim conquests and the Christian military excursions against the Muslim conquests, including the Crusades, the Spanish Reconquista, the Ottoman wars in Europe and the Ottoman-Safavid Wars. In more recent times, since the mid 20th century, violent conflicts along religious lines have frequently been conflated with ethnic issues; examples would include the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Insurgency in the North Caucasus, the Nagorno-Karabakh War, the Yugoslav Wars, the Second Sudanese Civil War, the Syrian civil war or the Nigerian Sharia conflict, among others. Other ongoing conflicts are predominantly motivated by religious extremism, i.e. involving a faction representing radical Islamic Jihadism, among others those in Afghanistan and North-West Pakistan, Iraq, the Maghreb, Yemen, Somalia, and the genocides and assimilation of the First Nations in North America.

Definition of holy war in the English dictionary

The definition of holy war in the dictionary is a war waged in the cause of a religion.

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE HOLY WAR

holy of holies
Holy Office
holy oil
holy orders
holy picture
holy place
Holy Roller
Holy Roman Empire
holy rood
Holy Saturday
Holy Scripture
Holy See
Holy Sepulchre
Holy Spirit
holy synod
holy terror
Holy Thursday
holy tide
Holy Trinity
holy water

WORDS THAT END LIKE HOLY WAR

air war
bidding war
civil war
cold war
council of war
declaration of war
dirty war
flame war
ground war
guerrilla war
man o´ war
opium war
phoney war
phony war
prisoner of war
sloop of war
state of war
theatre of war
trade war
turf war

Synonyms and antonyms of holy war in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «holy war» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF HOLY WAR

Find out the translation of holy war to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of holy war from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «holy war» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

圣战
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

guerra santa
570 millions of speakers

English

holy war
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

पवित्र युद्ध
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

الحرب المقدسة
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

священная война
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

guerra santa
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

জেহাদ
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

la guerre sainte
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Perang suci
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

heiligen Krieg
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

聖戦
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

거룩한 전쟁
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Perang suci
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

thánh chiến
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

புனித போர்
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

पवित्र युद्ध
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

kutsal savaş
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

guerra santa
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

święta wojna
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

священна війна
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

război sfânt
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

ιερό πόλεμο
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

heilige oorlog
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

heligt krig
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

hellig krig
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of holy war

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «HOLY WAR»

The term «holy war» is quite widely used and occupies the 35.217 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Quite widely used
84
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «holy war» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of holy war
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «holy war».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «HOLY WAR» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «holy war» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «holy war» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about holy war

EXAMPLES

6 QUOTES WITH «HOLY WAR»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word holy war.
1
Steve Allen
If there is a God, the phrase that must disgust him is - holy war.
2
Peter L. Bergen
And in the end, bin Laden died in a squalid suburban compound surrounded by his wives and children and far from the front lines of his holy war.
3
Monica Crowley
When I visited Guantanamo Bay several years ago, I met a team of psychiatrists treating the detainees. When I asked how they distinguished between, say, schizophrenia or bipolarity and a bedrock religious commitment to holy war, they couldn't answer.
4
Werner Herzog
I think there should be holy war against yoga classes.
5
Stephen Kinzer
Successive American presidents have turned a blind eye to piles of evidence that Saudi money is being used to foment holy war against America.
6
Feisal Abdul Rauf
'Jihad' can mean holy war to extremists, but it means struggle to the average Muslim.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «HOLY WAR»

Discover the use of holy war in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to holy war and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on Today's World
Covers the history of the Crusades, from Pope Urban II's call to holy war through its violent conflicts, while explaining their direct influence on the modern world's ongoing Middle East turbulence among Christians, Jews, and Muslims.
‎2001
2
Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama Bin Laden
CNN's terrorism analyst examines Osama bin Laden's global terrorist network, al-Queda, discussing its operations and mission, the planning and execution of specific terrorist acts, and future threats from militant Islamic movements.
Peter L. Bergen, 2002
3
Drugs: America's Holy War
Using the best scientific evidence, Drugs: America's Holy War explores the impact and cost of America’s "War on Drugs" – both in tax spending and in human terms and argues that ending the war on drugs would yield enormous benefits for ...
Arthur Benavie, 2012
4
Holy War: The Rise of Militant Christian, Jewish and Islamic ...
"This is an account of how the recent rise of militant Christian, Jewish, and Muslim fundamentalists and their interactions are endangering peace in the Middle East.
David S. New, 2001
5
Holy War: How Vasco da Gama's Epic Voyages Turned the Tide ...
Now that the world is once again tipping back East, Holy War offers a key to understanding age-old religious and cultural rivalries resurgent today.
Nigel Cliff, 2011
6
Holy War in Ancient Israel
From the earliest days of Israel's existence as a people, holy war was a sacred institution, undertaken as a cultic act of a religious community.
Marva J. Dawn, 1991
7
Saladin: The Politics of the Holy War
Saladin was one of the best-known figures of the Middle Ages.
Malcolm Cameron Lyons, D. E. P. Jackson, 1984
8
Holy War in Judaism: The Fall and Rise of a Controversial Idea
The transformations brought about by modernity required Jews to re-examine the traditional rabbinic prohibition against war in the light of the times.
Reuven Firestone, 2012
9
Holy War in the Bible: Christian Morality and an Old ...
The first of its kind, this collection offers a constructive response to the question of holy war and Christian morality from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Heath A. Thomas, Jeremy Evans, Paul Copan, 2013
10
Japan’s Holy War: The Ideology of Radical Shinto ...
Skya suggests that the creeping democracy and secularization of Japan’s political order in the early twentieth century were the principal causes of the terrorism of the 1930s, which ultimately led to a holy war against Western ...
Walter Skya, 2009

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «HOLY WAR»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term holy war is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Noonday Demons review – rival hermits declare holy war in caustic …
Competitive masochism … Jake Curran as St Pior and Jordan Mallory-Skinner as St Eusebius in Noonday Demons at the King's Head theatre, ... «The Guardian, Jul 15»
2
Guild's 'Savannah Disputation' a humorous holy war | The Bee …
Sarah Kovach as Mary, Peggy Livingston as Margaret, Robert Callahan as Father Murphy, and Abigail Webb as Melissa rehearsing a scene from the play ... «Hutchinson News, Jul 15»
3
Top Asian News at 8:30 a.m. GMT - Yahoo News
In the statement, he also urged Muslim leaders of the world to unite and pledged to continue holy war, or jihad, until foreign troops leave ... «Yahoo News, Jul 15»
4
Afghan Taliban leader backs peace talks with Kabul officials | Area …
In the statement, he also urged Muslim leaders of the world to unite and pledged to continue holy war, or jihad, until foreign troops leave ... «Baraboo News Republic, Jul 15»
5
Children, young as 5, groomed to become killers, AsiaOne Asia News
The youngsters' education and future prospects are dim. Her eldest son can only sing one song, about holy war, and the cartoons they read are ... «AsiaOne, Jul 15»
6
"Xinjiang Terrorists" Shot Dead by Police in Shenyang - China …
... holding long knives, and shouting 'holy war' slogans,” the statement [by the Liaoning government and reproduced by state media] said. «China Digital Times, Jul 15»
7
Conservative MP Wai Young made kooky comments about Air India …
And militant Sikh extremists were supported in their holy war against the government of India. Militant Sunnis and militant Sikhs were also ... «Straight.com, Jul 15»
8
Co-Optimus - News - Stronghold Crusader 2 Adds "The Templar and …
Custom Shields - Customize your in-game shield with five unique coat of arms designs, declaring your allegiance in the holy war. «Co-Optimus.com, Jul 15»
9
ORHAN OĞUZ GÜRBÜZ - Situation - Today's Zaman
... it established, it tries to make everyone endorse the legitimacy of the "theft network it has established for the sake of jihad, or holy war.". «Today's Zaman, Jul 15»
10
China says fleeing Uighurs want to bring holy war home | Reuters
China says fleeing Uighurs want to bring holy war home. BEIJING. BEIJING Uighurs from China's far western region of Xinjiang who have ... «Reuters, Jul 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Holy war [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/holy-war>. May 2024 ».
Download the educalingo app
en
English dictionary
Discover all that is hidden in the words on
index
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z