The adjective warlike comes from the Latin bellicus and the noun bellum, which means war. Thus, a warlike conflict is the same as a war. Other terms are derived from the warlike word, such as bellicose, belligerent or warmongering.
Different uses of the term
The idea of "war conflict" is used as a euphemism, that is, as a kinder expression of an idea (in this case war conflict is a less emphatic terminology than the word war).
The military actions are all those that are related to the military field, such as the strategy in a battle, the movements of troops or any other circumstance of the tactics of an army.
With the suffix bear a new term is formed, bellicose, which refers to the person or the combative attitude.
In the world of cinematographic fiction there is a specific genre, war cinema. In this sense, war films address the peculiar situations experienced in wars. Something very similar happens with video games, comics or novels about war.
Different ways of understanding war
Wars have marked the course of human history. Although there is destruction, violence and suffering in all wars, they are not all the same. When a confrontation takes place between the inhabitants of a nation, we are facing a civil war. If the motive that triggers the confrontation is religious, we are facing a holy war. If the conflict is global in scope, it is a world war.
Warlike attitudes beyond war
When we speak of warfare, we are not necessarily saying that there is a war or an armed conflict. In fact, the circumstances in which warfare is present are very diverse, even though there is no military confrontation. Thus, in some situations of high political tension, one lives in a pre-war or threatened state, as happened in the so-called cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II.
On the other hand, certain sporting confrontations have a warlike nuance, since two teams face each other in a climate comparable to that of two opposing armies. Finally, it must be remembered that sometimes the rivalry between two collectives or groups can take place through illegitimate channels and when this happens they speak of the dirty war.
Photos: iStock - SlobodanMiljevic / Brendan Hunter
