Pearl Harbor

American  

noun

1. a harbor near Honolulu, on S Oahu, in Hawaii: surprise attack by Japan on the U.S. naval base and other military installations December 7, 1941.

2. any significant or crippling defeat, betrayal, loss, etc., that comes unexpectedly.

---

Pearl Harbor British  

noun

1. an almost landlocked inlet of the Pacific on the S coast of the island of Oahu, Hawaii: site of a US naval base attacked by the Japanese in 1941, resulting in the US entry into World War II

---

Pearl Harbor Cultural  

1. A major United States naval base in Hawaii that was attacked without warning by the Japanese air force on December 7, 1941, with great loss of American lives and ships. In asking Congress to declare war on Japan the next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt described the day of the attack as “a date which will live in infamy.”

---

Example Sentences

In 2016, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe visited the US naval base at Pearl Harbor and a memorial in Arizona, offering "sincere and everlasting condolences" to the victims of Japan's attack.

From BBC • Mar. 20, 2026

US President Donald Trump on Thursday startled Japan's prime minister by mentioning the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, a seemingly light-hearted remark sure to elicit unease in a country now a firm US ally.

From Barron's • Mar. 19, 2026

President Trump: "We wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor?"

From Salon • Mar. 19, 2026

“Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK?”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 19, 2026

Even I who read Time magazine from cover to cover every week was unprepared for Pearl Harbor.

From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson