war zone

war zone

1. Literally, an area in which military combat takes place. That region has been a war zone for the whole last year following the rebel uprising.
2. By extension, any place or area that is characterized by violence, lawlessness, or chaos. That part of the city has become so consumed by drugs and gang violence that it has turned into a total war zone. The local government has collapsed, leaving behind a war zone of various political groups vying for control.
3. Any area that is especially cluttered, disorderly, or chaotic. Your bedroom is a war zone. Now get in there and clean it up! I know my desk looks like a war zone, but I know exactly where everything is that I need.
See also: war, zone
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

war zone

n. an area where things get rough; a tough neighborhood. Unfortunately our offices are in a war zone, and we have to be on the way home before dark.
See also: war, zone
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • literally
  • cull the herd
  • ejusdem generis
  • a smokescreen
  • (the) survival of the fittest
  • beat the hell out of
  • beat the living daylights out of
  • beat the tar out of
  • beat/knock/kick the hell out of somebody/something
  • beat/scare the daylights out of somebody
References in periodicals archive
The post Cyprus is not in a war zone says minister appeared first on Cyprus Mail .
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Wednesday was asked by reporters whether he thought Trump should visit troops in war zones.
Speaking during the book launch, the Managing Director, Felix Odiogor, said that the book contains real life experiences of people from different countries, with various backgrounds, cultures, political and social alignment who had been victims of armed conflict in different war zones.
In writing "War Zone," Garthwaite drew upon considerable knowledge and experience gleaned from a year spent in the British Army, an extended period working for the Baghdad Bulletin, Reuters and other agencies in Iraq in 2003, and travels to global danger zones as an Al Jazeera International reporter and producer.
Jet-fighters deployed on missions in the Libyan war zone have refueled in mid-air as part of Operation Odyssey Dawn.
Surviving the international war zone; security lessons learned and stories from police and military peacekeeping forces.
UK banking group HSBC Holdings Plc (LSE: HSBA) (NYSE: HBC) (HKG: 0005)will open a branch in Sri Lanka's former war zone, the first foreign bank to do so since the end of the country's long ethnic conflict.
Benny Gantz: 'We live with our values in a war zone. We must remove this threat.
Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has criticized recent bomb attacks in Jakarta allegedly carried out by Muslim militants, saying Indonesia is not a ''war zone.''
The government rejected the last-ditch call for a ceasefire, saying the thousands of civilians trapped in the war zone all have escaped to safety and there was no longer any reason to stop the battle.
He also said civilians in the war zone would be quickly freed.
UN spokesman Gordon Weiss said today the international organisation had long warned of a potential bloodbath in the war zone and said "that bloodbath has become a reality".
AN all-night artillery barrage in Sri Lanka's war zone killed at least 378 civilians and forced thousands to flee to makeshift shelters along the beach, a government doctor said yesterday.
SRI LANKA: Tens of thousands of civilians trapped in Sri Lanka's northern war zone are facing starvation, the Tamil Tiger rebels warned as the UN sent its top humanitarian official to assess the crisis.
Concern for the safety of the civilians trapped in the ever-shrinking war zone has increased in recent weeks as the government pushed ahead with.