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

A lot of maintenance is currently performed in Guam, Pearl Harbor or the U.S. mainland, defense analysts said, and U.S. shipyards are struggling to keep up.

From The Wall Street Journal

Garner, who has starred in movies such as “Pearl Harbor” and “13 Going on 30,” serves on the company’s board.

From The Wall Street Journal

He worked patrol and traffic until Pearl Harbor, when the U.S.

From Los Angeles Times

Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait,” for speaker and orchestra, written in 1942 in the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack, had been slated for a performance at Dwight D. Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1952.

From Los Angeles Times

After Pearl Harbor, McDonald shipped off to the Pacific, racking up a heroic war record.

From The Wall Street Journal