war power
nounDefinition of war power
: the power to make war
specifically
: an extraordinary power exercised usually by the executive branch of a government in the prosecution of a war
Examples of war power in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
In 2001, Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee was the lone congressional vote against the war powers resolution that began the Afghanistan war. — Taylor Kate Brown, SFChronicle.com, "Bay Briefing: The housing development killed with one vote," 22 July 2019 The 50-to-40 vote came after a rare congressional debate over war powers and amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran. — Christal Hayes, USA TODAY, "'A colossal mistake': GOP-controlled Senate votes down measure blocking Iran military strike," 26 June 2019 Since vetoing the war powers resolution, Trump has escalated tensions with Iran and sidestepped Congress to unilaterally authorize $8 billion in arms sales, including to Saudi Arabia and its allies to counter Iran. — Tara Golshan, Vox, "Progressives just got a major win against Trump on Iran. Can they hold on to it?," 12 July 2019 Some Republicans also fear that another war in the Middle East would be a terrible mistake, and there's bipartisan concern that Congress has ceded too much of its war powers to the president in recent years. — Deirdre Shesgreen, USA TODAY, "House approves measure to block Trump from launching military strike against Iran," 21 June 2019 Passage of the provision is the culmination of a yearslong debate over whether to curtail the president’s war powers that has heated up in recent months. — Emily Cochrane, New York Times, "House Moves Forward With Spending Bills as Congress Grapples With Looming Fiscal Deadlines," 19 June 2019 Pete Buttigieg says he's work for repeal of the post-9/11 war powers resolution. — NBC News, "Bernie Sanders has upped his game, but does it matter?," 12 June 2019 John Quincy Adams warned that if the South seceded, the war powers clause of the Constitution empowered the federal government to emancipate slaves to suppress the rebellion, a policy Lincoln embraced shortly after the Civil War began. — Nicholas Guyatt, The New York Review of Books, "‘No Property in Man’: An Exchange," 6 June 2019 This democratic model of war powers reflected that, as a fledgling nation, winning a major conflict would require the full support of the American people—their economy, manpower and willpower. — Ken Buck, WSJ, "Congress, Take Your War Powers Back," 24 Sep. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'war power.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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