cold war

[ kohld wawr ]

noun

1. Usually the Cold War. the rivalry after World War II between the Soviet Union and its satellites on the one hand, and the United States and other Western democracies on the other: waged on many fronts including economic, political, educational, scientific, and military:

   During the Cold War, the space race provided another avenue of competition without direct military conflict.

2. intense economic, political, military, and ideological rivalry between nations that does not extend to military conflict; sustained hostile political policies and an atmosphere of strain between opposed countries:

   The Sunni Arab states, especially Saudi Arabia, became embroiled in a cold war with Shiite Iran.

3. a continuing state of resentful antagonism between two parties that does not extend to open hostility or violence:

   She's fed up with this cold war between her husband and her mother.

adjective

1. Usually Cold War. relating to the rivalry between the Soviet Union and Western democracies after World War II:

   Many industries benefited from Cold War defense spending.

2. relating to hostile relations or intense rivalry between nations or persons that does not extend to open conflict:

   We both knew how much damage we were doing with our cold war tactics.

cold war

noun

1. 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 )

cold war

1. 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 .)

Word History and Origins

Origin of cold war¹

First recorded in 1945, coined by George Orwell ( def ) (1903–50)

Example Sentences

The cold war radio extremists hit their listeners with a hammer of information.

From Washington Post

Reading list“Trump-McConnell clash threatens to settle into a cold war as GOP eyes midterms,” by Mike DeBonis and Josh DawseyAn acquitted president goes after his acquitter.

From Washington Post

A “techonomic cold war” is already under way—an ongoing, often-invisible state of conflict at the intersection of technology and geopolitics.

From MIT Technology Review

If we set ourselves up for a new cold war and there’s no ability to monitor actual events in China, I think we could very well miss opportunities to have better outcomes in the long term.

From MIT Technology Review

That’s gotten us to a bad point where, as we’ve noted, the bipartisan fusion consensus now is that we’re in a great power competition, a cold war with China.

From Freakonomics

Cold War fears could be manipulated through misleading art to attract readers to daunting material.

From The Daily Beast

Accusing his opponents of being locked in a Cold War mind-set, it is Stone who is beholden to old orthodoxies.

From The Daily Beast

The U.S. responded to security threats with cool heads and plenty of expertise in WWII and the Cold War.

From The Daily Beast

After 18 months of secret talks, the president announces a diplomatic breakthrough that ends the last fight of the Cold War.

From The Daily Beast

The thaw between Washington and Cuba finally begins to close a chapter of the Cold War.

From The Daily Beast

This happening was not—repeat, was not—in any way associated with the cold war of such long standing.

From Project Gutenberg

And we have a cold war with only one country, and they're the only ones who'd play a deadly trick like this.

From Project Gutenberg

The cold war ends, Lockley, because there couldn't be a conquering army in the modern sense.

From Project Gutenberg

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.

From Project Gutenberg

Without oil we cant carry on this cold war or kid the peasants much longer.

From Project Gutenberg