war footing

English

Alternative forms

• wartime footing

Noun

war footing (plural war footings)

1. A state of preparedness for waging war.

   on a war footing

   move to a war footing

   • 2014 September 11, Uri Friedman, “Is It Peacetime or Wartime in America?”, in The Atlantic‎^[1]:

     After all, it was less than a year and a half ago that Obama promised, in an address at National Defense University, to remove America from the "perpetual war footing" it had assumed since the September 11 attacks.

   • 2021 September 8, “Network News: RMT on "war footing" in response to workforce cutback threats”, in RAIL, number 939, page 15:

     The RMT union has told Network Rail and train operators that it has moved to a "war footing" over planned service and workforce cutbacks.

   • 2023 September 30, Patrick Wintour, “‘No turning back’: how the Ukraine war has profoundly changed the EU”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     The EU is also now trying to put the European defence industry on to a war footing. Joint procurement of weapons by the European Defence Agency has been introduced for the first time.

Translations

state of preparedness for waging war

• Finnish: sotajalka
• German: Kriegsfuß m
• Polish: stan gotowości m

on a war footing

• Dutch: op voet van oorlog
• French: sur le pied de guerre (fr)
• German: auf Kriegsfuß
• Italian: sul piede di guerra
• Portuguese: em pé de guerra (pt)
• Russian: на тропе́ войны́ (na tropé vojný)
• Spanish: en pie de guerra (es)

See also

• on the warpath

References

• “war footing”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “on a war footing”, in Collins English Dictionary.