world war

noun

1. a war that involves most of the principal nations of the world.

Word History and Origins

Origin of world war¹

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

Gramma, a Galápagos tortoise whose life at the San Diego Zoo spanned more than 20 presidents, two world wars and two pandemics, has died.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

In the aftermath of the two world wars, Coleridge-Taylor’s music—like that of other late Victorian and Edwardian composers—was seen as old-fashioned and insufficiently complex.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Mr Crook, from NFFF, said fish and chips are a "big part of British culture", adding they "kept the nation going during two world wars".

Read more on BBC

Are we going to travel back in time and prevent genocide, world wars, the atomic bomb?

Read more on Literature

Two world wars, between 1914 and 1945, meant that many would-be divers went off to fight and sponge harvesting came to a halt.

Read more on Literature