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First World

American  

noun

  1. the major industrialized non-Communist nations, including those in Western Europe, the United States, Canada, and Japan.


Etymology

Origin of First World

First recorded in 1970–75

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Example Sentences

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A French machine-gun officer in the trenches during the First World War.

From Los Angeles Times Jun. 22, 2026

“Cuba had a First World military in a Third World country,” Mora said.

From The Wall Street Journal May 22, 2026

As the poet William Butler Yeats observed after the end of the First World War, the center is not holding, while the best lack all conviction.

From Salon Nov. 10, 2025

Don’t miss: I have a ‘mundane’ First World problem: Should I buy a $30,000 bracelet?

From MarketWatch Nov. 3, 2025

In the years between the First World War and the disinterring of Luigi Boccherini’s bones, music’s family had expanded prolifically.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

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