war-weary

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔː ˈwɪəɹi/

  • Audio (Southern England):

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔɹ ˈwɪəɹi/
• Hyphenation: war-wea‧ry

war-weary (comparative war-wearier or more war-weary, superlative war-weariest or most war-weary)

1. Weary or tired of war.
   • 1873 July, J. Baldwin Brown, “The Whole Armour of God”, in [Robert William Dale], editor, The Congregationalist, volume II, London: Hodder and Stoughton, , →OCLC, page 393:

     Read the language in which the poet of the war-weary Roman world salutes the Augustan empire. [...] The place which Virgil held in the estimation of pious Churchmen though the mediæval period, in which pagan and devilish were almost convertible terms, is mainly due to the almost prophetic character of the visions which the poet paints for his war-weary countrymen of the restoration of the blessed Saturnian reign.

   • 1922 April 6, “Paris and the Near East”, in The Near East, volume XXI, number 569, London: Printed by the Guilbert-Wenham Printing Co., →OCLC, page 460, column 2:

     [T]he three Great Powers should not hesitate to take whatever steps may be necessary to bring about a settlement. They may be war-weary, but they are not too war-weary for that, now that they are united in purpose.

   • 1932, S[ydney] Fowler Wright, chapter LVI, in The Life of Sir Walter Scott, London: Poetry League, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: Haskell House Publishers, 1971, →ISBN, page 362:

     [T]he highest of social circles sought to recognize the poet [Sir Walter Scott] whose flame of patriotism had been an inspiration of England in her war-weariest hours.

   • 2006, Ngaire Woods, “Whose Institutions?”, in The Globalizers: The IMF, the World Bank, and Their Borrowers (Cornell Studies in Money), Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, →ISBN; republished Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2014, →ISBN:

     Warweary populations not only needed new investment and economic growth, they also needed a new vision of international economic relations and management [...]. This social need helps to explain the rapid public acceptance of the Bretton Woods plan.

   • 2007, Walter Isaacson, Einstein: His Life and Universe, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 255:

     For general relativity, there was a dramatic experimental test that was possible, one that had the potential to dazzle and help heal a war-weary world.

   • 2011, Donald Rumsfeld, “Young Turks”, in Known and Unknown: A Memoir, New York, N.Y.: Sentinel, →ISBN, part III (The U.S. Congress: From Camelot to Quagmire), page 103:

     In military terms, the Tet Offensive was not a victory for the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese. But military victory was not the enemy's intent. Their effort was targeted at war-weary Americans watching the bloodshed on their TV screens.

   • 2011 October, Mary N. Hampton, “Between Euroland and Abendland? Opportunities and Challenges for German Foreign Policy since Unification”, in Peter C. Caldwell, Robert R. Shandley, editors, German Unification: Expectations and Outcomes (Studies in European Culture and History), New York, N.Y.: Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 45:

     Thus, “the idea of Europe” was fundamentally forged out of war-weary dreams of unity: postwar Europe was always the venue for ripening cosmopolitan and unification models.

   • 2016, H. Edward Phillips III, Islamic State: the Coming Storm‎, Bloomington, Ind.: WestBow Press, Thomas Nelson and Zondervan, →ISBN:

     Nevertheless, even as these atrocities continue to be committed, some would argue that waging a new war to defeat global Islamic terrorism would only result in the creation of dozens more like Bin Laden and Al-Baghdadi. [...] Further, the opponents to real military action would also lead us to believe that the U.S. is too war-weary to press forward.

2. Tired from fighting in a war.
   • (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 112, column 2:

     And whiles the honourable Captaine there / Drops bloody ſwet from his warre-wearied limbes, / And in aduantage lingring lookes for reſcue, / You his falſe hopes, the truſt of Englands honor, / Keepe off aloofe with worthleſſe emulation: [...]]

   • 1851, M. Kelly, “Rest, Warrior, Rest”, in Gems from the Operas: A Choice Collection of the Most Admired Songs, Duets, Glees, Choruses, &c. &c. With All the New Songs, Philadelphia, Pa.: John B. Perry, , →OCLC, page 46:

     Sunk in silence and sleep in the cottager's bed, / Oblivion shall visit the war-weary head; / Perchance he may dream, but the vision shall tell, / Of his lady-love's bower and her latest farewell; [...]

   • 1956, Edward Eager, “The Quest”, in Knight’s Castle, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt Children’s Books, w:, →ISBN, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1999, page 186:

     "And now," said King Richard, "what say ye all to a feast to celebrate our victory and refresh our war-weary limbs?"

   • 1973 March 27, Francis Greenlief (witness), “Department of the Air Force: Reprogramming ”, in Second Supplemental Appropriation Bill, 1973: Hearings before Subcommittees of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, Ninety-third Congress, First Session: Part 3: Department of Defense, Supplemental Budget Requests for Fiscal Year 1973: Reprogrammings , Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 946:

     Sir, we are getting more modern equipment. In some cases the equipment we are receiving is a little war weary. It does take some rebuilding and repair. [...] [W]e are doing everything we can with Air Force assistance to bring up the level of maintenance of those aircraft that are a little war weary.

   • 1978, H[arold] E[dward] L[eslie] Mellersh, Schoolboy into War: Book 2: the Autobiography, London: Kimber, →ISBN; republished Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire: Troubador Publishing, 2015, →ISBN:

     The Eastbourne Convalescent Camp, on the Downs below Beachy Head was a sort of rough-hewn paradise for war-weary officers.

   • 2012, Jonathan Bernstein, “Operation Strangle”, in Tony Holmes, editor, P-47 Thunderbolt Units of the Twelfth Air Force (Osprey Combat Aircraft; 92), Botley, Oxfordshire: Osprey Publishing, →ISBN, page 27:

     As the 87th received new fighters and began flying combat missions, another veteran unit started turning in its war-weary airframes for P47s.

   • 2015, Julie Checkoway, The Three-year Swim Club: The Untold Story of Maui’s Sugar Ditch Kids and Their Quest for Olympic Glory‎, New York, N.Y.: Grand Central Publishing, →ISBN:

     Certain countries' athletes appeared far war-wearier and more sloppily shod than others.

• warweary, war weary

• war-weariness, warweariness

• war-weariness on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “war-weary, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.