Phrase guide

proxy war

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A war where two powers use third parties as a supplement to, or a substitute for, fighting each other directly.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a war instigated by a major power that does not itself participate

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: war, state of war

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

51 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: حَرْب بِالوِكَالَة (ḥarb bi-l-wikāla) — war where two powers use third parties
  • Armenian: պրոքսի պատերազմ (prokʻsi paterazm) — war where two powers use third parties
  • Azerbaijani: vasitəçilik müharibəsi — war where two powers use third parties
  • Bulgarian: опосредствана война (oposredstvana vojna) — war where two powers use third parties
  • Catalan: guerra per delegació — war where two powers use third parties
  • Chinese Mandarin: 代理人戰爭 /代理人战争 (dàilǐrén zhànzhēng) — war where two powers use third parties
  • Czech: zástupná válka — war where two powers use third parties
  • Danish: stedfortræderkrig — war where two powers use third parties
  • Danish: stedfortræderkonflikt — war where two powers use third parties
  • Dutch: oorlog bij volmacht — war where two powers use third parties
  • Dutch: proxy-oorlog — war where two powers use third parties
  • Estonian: varisõda — war where two powers use third parties
  • Finnish: sijaissota — war where two powers use third parties
  • French: guerre par procuration — war where two powers use third parties
  • French: guerre proxy — war where two powers use third parties
  • Galician: guerra subsidiaria — war where two powers use third parties
  • Georgian: არაპირდაპირი ომი (araṗirdaṗiri omi) — war where two powers use third parties
  • Georgian: ომი შუამავლის მეშვეობით (omi šuamavlis mešveobit) — war where two powers use third parties
  • German: Stellvertreterkrieg — war where two powers use third parties
  • Greek: πόλεμος μέσω αντιπροσώπων (pólemos méso antiprosópon) — war where two powers use third parties
  • Hebrew: מלחמה באמצעות שליח — war where two powers use third parties
  • Hindi: परोक्ष युद्ध (parokṣ yuddh) — war where two powers use third parties
  • Icelandic: staðgöngustríð — war where two powers use third parties
  • Indonesian: perang proksi — war where two powers use third parties
  • Indonesian: perang bayangan — war where two powers use third parties
  • Italian: guerra per procura — war where two powers use third parties
  • Japanese: 代理戦争 (dairi sensō) — war where two powers use third parties
  • Korean: 대리 전쟁 (daeri jeonjaeng) — war where two powers use third parties
  • Lithuanian: karas per trečiąsias šalis — war where two powers use third parties
  • Luxembourgish: Stellvertriederkrich — war where two powers use third parties
  • Malay: perang proksi — war where two powers use third parties
  • Malayalam: മുക്ത്യാർ യുദ്ധം (muktyāṟ yuddhaṁ) — war where two powers use third parties
  • Norwegian Bokmål: stedfortrederkrig — war where two powers use third parties
  • Norwegian Bokmål: stedfortrederkonflikt — war where two powers use third parties
  • Persian: جنگ نیابتی (jang-e niyâbati) — war where two powers use third parties
  • Persian: جنگ وکالتی (jang-e vekâlati) — war where two powers use third parties
  • Polish: wojna zastępcza — war where two powers use third parties
  • Portuguese: guerra por procuração — war where two powers use third parties
  • Russian: опосре́дованная война́ (oposrédovannaja vojná) — war where two powers use third parties
  • Russian: прокси-война (proksi-vojna) — war where two powers use third parties
  • Serbo-Croatian: rat preko posrednika — war where two powers use third parties
  • Serbo-Croatian: рат преко посредника — war where two powers use third parties
  • Sindhi: پرائي جنگ (prāe j̃g) — war where two powers use third parties
  • Spanish: guerra subsidiaria — war where two powers use third parties
  • Swedish: proxykrig — war where two powers use third parties
  • Swedish: ombudskrig — war where two powers use third parties
  • Thai: สงครามตัวแทน (sǒng-kraam-dtuua-tɛɛn) — war where two powers use third parties
  • Turkish: temsilî savaş — war where two powers use third parties
  • Turkish: vekâlet savaşı — war where two powers use third parties
  • Ukrainian: посере́дницька війна́ (poserédnycʹka vijná) — war where two powers use third parties
  • Vietnamese: chiến tranh ủy nhiệm — war where two powers use third parties