cold war

SEE SYNONYMS FOR cold war ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

intense economic, political, military, and ideological rivalry between nations, short of military conflict; sustained hostile political policies and an atmosphere of strain between opposed countries.
a continuing state of resentful antagonism between two parties short of open hostility or violence.
(initial capital letters) rivalry after World War II between the Soviet Union and its satellites and the democratic countries of the Western world, under the leadership of the United States.

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Words nearby cold war

cold tone, cold turkey, cold type, cold ulcer, cold wall effect, cold war, cold warrior, cold wave, cold work, cold-blooded, cold-blooded animals
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Words related to cold war

antagonism, rivalry, tension

Example sentences from the Web for cold war

  • In the two camera-cases Coburn was sure that he had the cryptic device that was responsible for the failure of a cold-war raid.

    The Invaders|William Fitzgerald Jenkins

British Dictionary definitions for cold war

cold war

noun

a state of political hostility and military tension between two countries or power blocs, involving propaganda, subversion, threats, economic sanctions, and other measures short of open warfare, esp that between the American and Soviet blocs after World War II (the Cold 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 cold war

cold war

A constant nonviolent state of hostility between the Soviet Union and the United States. The cold war began shortly after World War II, with the rapid extension of Soviet influence over eastern Europe and North Korea. With the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, the cold war ended. (See Berlin airlift, Berlin wall (see also Berlin wall), and Iron Curtain.)

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.