Phrase guide

psychological warfare

noun · 3 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 mentally manipulative approach to warfare involving use of techniques to demoralize or intimidate someone into surrender.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: war of nerves

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: psyops[Appendix:Glossary

2

noun

Meaning 2

Mind games.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: war of nerves, psyops

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

the use of psychological tactics to destroy the opponents' morale

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: war of nerves

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: war, warfare

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

42 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: ջիղերու պատերազմ (ǰiġeru paterazm) — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Asturian: guerra psicolóxica — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Basque: gerra psikologiko — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Bulgarian: психологическа война (psihologičeska vojna) — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Catalan: guerra psicològica — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Chinese Mandarin: 心理戰 /心理战 (xīnlǐzhàn) — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Czech: psychologická válka — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Danish: psykologisk krigsførelse — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Dutch: psychologische oorlogsvoering — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Estonian: psühholoogiline sõda — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Finnish: psykologinen sodankäynti — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • French: guerre psychologique — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Galician: guerra psicolóxica — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • German: psychologische Kriegsführung — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Greek: ψυχολογικός πόλεμος (psychologikós pólemos) — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Italian: guerra psicologica — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Japanese: 心理戦 (shinrisen) — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Kazakh: پسىيحولوگىييالىق سوعىس — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Kazakh: психологиялық соғыс (psixologiälyq soğys) — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Kazakh: psïxologïyalıq soğıs — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Korean: 심리전 (simnijeon) — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Latvian: psiholoģiskais karš — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Lithuanian: psichologinis karas — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Macedonian: психолошка војна (psihološka vojna) — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Norwegian Bokmål: psykologisk krigføring — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: psykologisk krigføring — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Polish: wojna psychologiczna — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Portuguese: guerra psicológica — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Romanian: război psihologic — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Russian: психологическая война (psixologičeskaja vojna) — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Serbo-Croatian: психолошки рат — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Serbo-Croatian: psihološki rat — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Slovak: psychologická vojna — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Slovene: psihološka vojna — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Spanish: guerra psicológica — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Swedish: psykologisk krigföring — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Thai: สงครามจิตวิทยา (sǒng-kraam-jìt-dtà-wít-tá-yaa) — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Turkish: psikolojik harp — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Turkish: psikolojik savaş — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Ukrainian: психологічна війна (psyxolohična vijna) — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Vietnamese: chiến tranh tâm lý — mentally manipulative approach to warfare
  • Welsh: rhyfela seicolegol — mentally manipulative approach to warfare