9/11

American  

[nahyn-i-lev-uhn] / ˈnaɪn ɪˈlɛv ən /

Or 9-11

1. September 11, 2001: the day on which Islamic terrorists, believed to be part of the Al-Qaeda network, hijacked four commercial airplanes and crashed two of them into the World Trade Center in New York City and a third one into the Pentagon in Virginia: the fourth plane crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania.

---

9-11 Cultural  

1. See September 11 attacks.

---

Etymology

Origin of 9/11

First recorded in 2000–05

Example Sentences

“The level of uncertainty and fear is unlike anything I can recall from my lifetime except, perhaps, the 9/11 attacks.”

From MarketWatch

Aside from the ongoing menace of nuclear annihilation, the biggest threat we’ve faced as a country was 9/11 when the country’s mainland was attacked by al-Qaeda.

From Salon

The parliamentary committee also criticised MI5 and MI6 for their conduct in relation to the alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, raising the question of whether he could bring a similar legal claim.

From BBC

Mr. Bush came to the realization—and only after 9/11, remember—that vicious rulers and their failed states generate disaffected people who harbor ill designs on the United States.

From The Wall Street Journal

Weeks after I arrived, 9/11 happened and, of course, the mood changed.

From The Wall Street Journal