war footing

noun

: the condition of being prepared to undertake or maintain war

Examples of war footing in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
But the reality was that the city was on a war footing, a 4-foot wall of sand and rows of sandbags blocking off an ocean determined to reach the sidewalks nonetheless. — Fedor Zarkhin, Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. 2026 Maintaining this war footing seems to have broad political support, too. — Dalia Dassa Kaye, Foreign Affairs, 27 Oct. 2026 In a 1971 memorandum, future Supreme Court justice Lewis Powell urged the Chamber of Commerce to put business on a political war footing. — Christopher Marquis, Time, 16 Oct. 2026 At the same time, Sobyanin, who is widely seen as a pragmatist, has rebuffed calls by Russian hawks for a broad mobilization of conscripts and putting the entire economy on a war footing. — ABC News, 17 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for war footing

Word History

First Known Use

1787, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of war footing was in 1787

Rhymes for war footing

See All Rhymes for war footing

Browse Nearby Words

war feast
war footing
war-game
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“War footing.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/war%20footing. Accessed 30 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of reticent

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Pwn, Skibidi, Girlboss and Other Words Added to the 2026 Scrabble Dictionary

The Words of the Week - Oct. 30

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All