antebellum

[ an-tee-bel-uhm ]

adjective
  1. before or existing before a war, especially the American Civil War; prewar: the antebellum plantations of Georgia.

Origin of antebellum

1
First recorded in 1860–65, antebellum is from Latin ante bellum “before the war”

Words Nearby antebellum

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How to use antebellum in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for antebellum

antebellum

/ (ˌæntɪˈbɛləm) /


adjective
  1. of or during the period before a war, esp the American Civil War: the antebellum South

Origin of antebellum

1
Latin ante bellum, literally: before the war

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for antebellum

antebellum

[ (an-tee-bel-uhm) ]


A descriptive term for objects and institutions, especially houses, that originated three or four decades before the Civil War. Antebellum is Latin for “before the war.”

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.