dirty war

American  

noun

1. a war conducted by the military or secret police of a regime against revolutionary and terrorist insurgents and marked by the regime's use of kidnapping, torture, and murder, with members of the civilian population often the victims.

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Example Sentences

Scappaticci, who died last year, was the personification of the dirty war secretly fought between Britain's intelligence agencies and the IRA.

From BBC • Mar. 5, 2024

For Moreno Ocampo, the politics of the dirty war were personal and familial.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 1, 2023

Others said they were justified by the scale of the online dirty war.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 25, 2022

The film, set during Argentina’s so-called dirty war of the 1970s, traces the evolution of a relationship between cellmates who at first seem ideologically incompatible.

From New York Times • Jul. 14, 2016

Related: Pope's South American tour recalls a divided church – and a dirty war Saldaño is the third of Guerrero’s four children, and her eldest son.

From The Guardian • Sep. 23, 2015