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.

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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

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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.”

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Example Sentences

The losses inflicted on the U.S. fleet in 1941 at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, in whose navy Mahan was required reading, were soon replaced, and then some.

From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026

What the other-than-chronological approach here entails is a certain redundancy—when the subject is the Pacific sea war, for instance, there’s a necessary return to Pearl Harbor, which has already been covered.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 21, 2026

"Prime Minister Takaichi viscerally reacted, her eyes widening and her smile disappearing as she leaned back, drawing her hands in, clearly taken aback by the sudden mention of Pearl Harbor," she said.

From BBC • Mar. 20, 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

Hatsue Imada was standing in the foyer of the Amity Harbor Buddhist Chapel, buttoning her coat after services, when Georgia Yamashita’s mother told the people gathered there the news about Pearl Harbor.

From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson