Sentence:  The Indochina struggle <WSD>was</WSD> a war to stay out of in 1954 , when Gen. Ridgway estimated it would take a minimum of 10 to 15 divisions at the outset to win a war the French were losing . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)