war cry

noun

An exclamation intended to rally soldiers in battle; a battle cry.

Similar
rallying crybattle crycrywatchwordwar whoop
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Meanings

nounwar cry (plural war cries)

plural war cries · alternative warcry

  1. An exclamation intended to rally soldiers in battle; a battle cry.

    Buried was the bloody hatchet, / Buried was the dreadful war-club, / Buried were all warlike weapons, / And the war-cry was forgotten.

    1855 November 10, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Blessing the Corn-fields”, in The Song of Hiawatha, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 175

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna slogan used to rally support for a cause

Similar
rallying crybattle crycrywatchword
Broader
mottoslogancatchword

nouna yell intended to rally a group of soldiers in battle

Similar
war whooprallying crybattle cry
Broader
cryoutcrycall
Also see
battle crycryrallying crywar whoopwatchword

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Translations

Ancient Greek ἀλαλή, βοή
  • ἀλαλή (alalḗ)exclamation intended to rally soldiers in battle
  • βοή (boḗ)exclamation intended to rally soldiers in battle
  • ἀϋτή (aütḗ)exclamation intended to rally soldiers in battle
Finnish sotahuuto
  • sotahuutoexclamation intended to rally soldiers in battle
German Kriegsgeschrei
  • Kriegsgeschreiexclamation intended to rally soldiers in battle
Irish rosc catha
  • rosc cathaexclamation intended to rally soldiers in battle
Italian grido di guerra
  • grido di guerraexclamation intended to rally soldiers in battle
Japanese 鬨, 鬨の声
  • 鬨 (toki)exclamation intended to rally soldiers in battle
  • 鬨の声 (toki no koe)exclamation intended to rally soldiers in battle
Polish okrzyk wojenny
  • okrzyk wojennyexclamation intended to rally soldiers in battle
Russian боево́й клич
  • боево́й клич (bojevój klič)exclamation intended to rally soldiers in battle
Spanish exclamación bélica
  • exclamación bélicaexclamation intended to rally soldiers in battle
Swedish stridsrop
  • stridsropexclamation intended to rally soldiers in battle
Cite this entry
APA

war cry. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/war%20cry

MLA

“war cry.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/war%20cry. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “war cry,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/war%20cry.

Source: war cry on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.