Less than warm, possibly cold (3)

I believe the answer is:

war

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'cold' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both states of affairs as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?

'less than warm' is the wordplay.
'less than' means to remove the last letter (not the full word).
'warm' with its final letter removed is 'WAR'.

'possibly' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for war that I've seen before include "Armed hostility" , "Large-scale conflict" , "Strife" , "Major conflict" , "Sustained conflict" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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