world war, n.
Forms:
also with capital initials (esp. in the names of particular conflicts).(Show Less)
Frequency (in current use):
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Etymology: < world n. + war n.1 Compare German Weltkrieg (1599, rare before the 19th cent. (1809 or earlier)), Swedish världskrig (1886 in the passage translated in quot. 1889).
World War I n. was apparently coined to contrast with World War II n., which (in this form) first appears in the same publication a week before (see quot. 1939 for World War II n.); however, compare earlier First World War n. at first adj., adv., and n.2 Compounds 1b(b). Compare also earlier Great War n. 2.
A war involving many nations of the world; spec. that of 1914–18 or of 1939–45.First, Second, Third World War: see the first element.
1848 People's Jrnl. 4 250/1
A war amongst the great powers is now necessarily a world-war.
1864 G. Haven National Serm.
(1869)
Contents p.xx.
(title)
The world war: aristocracy and democracy.
1889 R. B. Anderson tr. V. Rydberg Teutonic Mythol. i. xxxiv. 139
From the standpoint of Teutonic mythology it is a world war [Sw. världskrig]; and Völuspa calls it the first great war in the world—folcvig fyrst i heimi.
1900 N. Amer. Rev. Nov. 653
The South African war, following immediately upon the close of the Peace Conference at The Hague, has not yet reached its end, and already the horizon in Eastern Asia is lurid with the glare of a world-war.
1914 B. Vaughan What of To-day? xii. 103
What the South African War failed to teach I really believe this world-war will bring home to us.
1921 A. Huxley Crome Yellow ix. 82
Armageddon, that world war with which the Second Coming is to be so closely associated.
1949 ‘G. A. Birmingham’ Laura's Bishop 171
To call this, when it comes, a world war is to minimize its importance. It will be worse than a world war.
1956 J. Degras tr. L. Trotsky in Communist Internat. Documents I. 41
The opportunists, who before the world war appealed to the workers to practise moderation for the sake of the gradual transition to socialism.
1978 I. B. Singer Shosha v. 90
Let's snatch a little peace before another world war breaks out.
1987 R. S. Brindle New Music
(ed. 2)
x. 98
It took a world war to produce what was almost the right instrument—the wire recorder—which was later replaced by the tape recorder.
2003 Independent 20 Nov. (Review section) 8/3
It took a world war, however, to ensure the pencil skirt's invention: the strict fabric rations after the Second World War were what inspired its economical lines.
1848—2003(Hide quotations)
Phrases
P1.
World War I n. (also World War One, World War No.1) = First World War n. at first adj., adv., and n.2 Compounds 1b(b). Abbreviated WWI.
1939 Time 18 Sept. 10/2
Exports of arms, munitions and related materials in World War I amounted..to only 25% of total exports to the Allies.
1947 Time & Tide 29 Nov. 1269/2
The despair and cynicism that followed what it has now become fashionable to call World War One.
1948 N. Wiener Cybernetics 7
When I came to the Institute after World War No. 1 [etc.].
1968 Listener 12 Dec. 787/3
When World War Two broke out on 3 September 1939, Monnet remembered his World War One experiences.
1976 P. R. White Planning for Public Transport iv. 72
As early as World War One some minor stations and routes were closed.
2004 J. Emsley Vanity, Vitality, & Virility
(2006)
iv. 123
Dakin's Solution, consisting of a 0.5% solution of sodium hypochlorite, was used extensively in World War I to disinfect wounds and prevent gangrene.
1939—2004(Hide quotations)
P2.
World War II n. (also World War Two; occasionally World War No. 2, World War Deuce) = Second World War n. at second adj. and n.2 Compounds 1; (also more generally) the second in a series of world wars (rare). Abbreviated WWII.In quot. 1919 with reference to an imagined future war arising out of the social upheaval consequent upon the First World War (1914–18).
1919 Manch. Guardian 18 Feb. 10/1
(heading)
World War No. 2.
1939 Time 11 Sept. 38/1
Some of the diplomatic juggling which last week ended in World War II was old-fashioned international jockeying for power.
1952 Life 17 Nov. 105
(caption)
Studebaker cars made history in two Indianapolis Speedway races prior to World War two.
1963 D. Broun Egypt's Choice i. 12
‘During World War Deuce, sir,’ the Colonel said.
1980 New Statesman 5 Sept. 28/2
The News (BBC-1) had some film of Crusader 80, which..is Britain's biggest military exercise since world war two.
2007 U.S. Federal News Service
(Nexis)
27 June
General of the Air Force Henry H. ‘Hap’ Arnold, World War II commander of the Army Air Forces and the only Airman to hold a five-star rank.
1919—2007(Hide quotations)
P3.
World War III n. (also World War Three, World War No. 3) = Third World War n. at third adj. and n. Compounds 2.
1945 Duke of Bedford Let. 16 Apr. in B. Russell Autobiogr.
(1969)
III. i. 44
You will have to postpone your visit until the brief interlude between this war & world-war no 3.
1959 N.Z. Listener 17 Apr. 6/1
Clearly the meaning of the treaties in case of wars which can be limited is somewhat different from the meaning they have in the event of World War III.
1968 K. Bird Smash Glass Image viii. 102
Rattling their rifles as if they were fighting World War Three.
1986 D. Carey Dreadnought vi. 135
World War Three had shown mankind once and for all to let their society grow as a tree grows, free of pruning, free of artificial aids.
2003 N. al-Radi Baghdad Diaries
(new ed.)
168
They have not solved the Bosnian refugee question yet. Thousands have nowhere to go. Is this World War III?
1945—2003(Hide quotations)
