holy war

English

Noun

holy war (plural holy wars)

1. A war which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion and beliefs.

   Hyponyms: Crusade, jihad

   The conflict is beginning to look like a holy war between Sunnis and Shias.

2. (computing, Usenet) A long-running and acrimonious debate or flame war over personal preferences in technical matters, such as the choice between little-endian and big-endian representation.
3. (Utah) The rivalry between the sports teams of Brigham Young University and the University of Utah.

Translations

a type of war — see also war of religion

• Albanian: luftë e shenjtë
• Arabic: حَرْب مُقَدَّسَة f (ḥarb muqaddasa)
• Armenian: սրբազան պատերազմ (hy) (srbazan paterazm)
• Belarusian: свята́я вайна́ f (svjatája vajná)
• Bulgarian: свеще́на война́ f (svešténa vojná)
• Chechen: гӏазот (ğazot)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 宗教戰爭／宗教战争 (zōngjiào zhànzhēng), 聖戰／圣战 (zh) (shèngzhàn)

• Danish: hellig krig c
• Dutch: heilige oorlog m
• Finnish: pyhä sota (fi)
• French: guerre sainte (fr) f
• Georgian: ჯიჰადი (ǯihadi), წმინდა ომი (c̣minda omi)
• German: heiliger Krieg m
• Greek: ιερός πόλεμος m (ierós pólemos)
• Hebrew: (jihad) ג'יהאד, מלחמת קודש
• Hungarian: szent háború
• Indonesian: jihad (id)
• Italian: guerra santa f
• Japanese: 聖戦 (ja) (せいせん, seisen)
• Korean: 성전(聖戰) (seongjeon)
• Malay: perang suci, perang agama, perang sabil
• Persian: جهاد (fa) (jahâd)
• Polish: święta wojna (pl) f
• Portuguese: guerra sagrada f, guerra santa f
• Romanian: război sfânt n
• Russian: свяще́нная война́ f (svjaščénnaja vojná)
• Spanish: guerra santa f
• Swedish: heligt krig c
• Tagalog: banal na digmaan
• Turkish: din savaşı, cihat (tr), kutsal savaş (literal, calque)
• Ukrainian: свяще́нна війна́ f (svjaščénna vijná)
• Yiddish: הייליק מלחמה f (heylik milkhama)

Further reading

• “holy war”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “holy war”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “holy war” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.