shooting war
Actual military engagement
A shooting war is armed conflict with actual combat, as opposed to diplomatic tensions, economic sanctions, or cold war standoffs.
The phrase emphasizes that fighting has begun: Trade disputes escalated into a shooting war.
It distinguishes active hostilities from other forms of conflict that remain bloodless.
- firefightExchange of gunfire
- hot warActive armed combat
- hostilitiesActive armed fighting
- total warConflict engaging entire nations
- fightingEngaging in physical conflict
armed conflict · boots on the ground · front lines · ambush · combat · blitzkrieg · battlefield · fog of war · skirmish · shootout · casualties · collateral damage · confrontation · soldiers · troops · rules of engagement · airstrike · state of war
shooting warcold war
Hostility without open fighting
frozen conflict · armed standoff · war of words · saber-rattling · stalemate
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