ratovati

Ratovati is a verb used in several South Slavic languages, notably Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian, meaning to wage war or to conduct warfare. It denotes the act of engaging in organized armed conflict against another state, group, or entity. The term is employed in historical, political, and military contexts and is typically found in formal writing rather than everyday speech. The infinitive form is ratovati, and it gives rise to the related noun ratovanje, meaning the waging of war.

Etymology and related forms: ratovati is built from the noun rat, war, with the suffix -ovati, forming a verb that expresses the action of waging war. The word has cognates in other South Slavic languages and shares a common Slavic root for war.

Usage and nuances: The verb is commonly used with prepositions or in constructions that indicate opposition, such as ratovati protiv nekoga (to wage war against someone). It can appear in various tenses and moods, with sentences like "Države su ratovale protiv svojih suseda" (The states waged war against their neighbors) or "Ratovanje se nastavlja" (The waging of war continues). In contemporary discourse, ratovati is more likely to appear in historical or analytical contexts than in casual conversation.

See also: vojevati, rat. These terms cover related notions of warfare and armed conflict and are used in somewhat different stylistic registers.