Usually the Iron Curtain the Cold War barrier created by political, ideological, and military hostility between Western democracies on the one hand and the Soviet Union and its allies on the other, preventing mutual understanding and the exchange of ideas, travel, etc..
Even when I was living behind the Iron Curtain, some popular music seeped through from the West.
any barrier preventing the passage of ideas or understanding, especially an ideological, philosophical, or cultural barrier that divides countries, groups of people, or individuals.
An iron curtain between theoreticians and creative artists prevented either group from appreciating the contributions of the other.
an impenetrable barrier to communication or information imposed by rigid censorship or secrecy.
The incident is a growing embarrassment for the country on the international stage, meaning that an iron curtain must fall on the subject.
Theater. a safety curtain made of iron or other metal.
The expression Iron Curtain was coined by Winston Churchill, who was prime minister of Britain in World War II. Churchill first used the term soon after the war, when the Soviet Union was beginning to carry out its plans for postwar dominance of eastern Europe.
Used in 1946 by Sir Winston Churchill to describe the line of demarcation between Western Europe and the Soviet zone of influence
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Even as Iran completes a digital iron curtain certain to further stymie research collaborations with the West, it’s encouraging its scientists to forge closer ties with China and Russia.
From Science Magazine ● Sep. 11, 2023
“They were not designed for a situation in which an iron curtain descends,” he said.
From New York Times ● Jan. 27, 2023
“But it still shocked me just how quickly this new informational iron curtain has descended.”
From Washington Times ● Apr. 26, 2022
"If there is a new iron curtain, we do not want to be behind it," he said, referring to the Western term for a dividing line between eastern and western Europe during the Cold War.
From Reuters ● Mar. 28, 2022
The country is all closed up, just like this place called Berlin, where an iron curtain has come down that keeps people from going in or getting out.
From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez
In 1970, the band became the first rock group to break through the Iron Curtain, touring eastern Europe at the request of the US state department.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
With the nightmares of Hitler, Mussolini and the Iron Curtain still years in the future, Churchill mined his youth to position himself as one of history’s glowworms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 22, 2026
His connection to a land closed off by the Iron Curtain produced a lifelong attachment to freedom of speech—“the freedom on which all other freedoms depended.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
Their chirps are the sound of the old battle-ax saying goodbye to his homeland before the Iron Curtain slams shut.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2025
By that point, nearly every effort to send a US agent behind the Iron Curtain had failed; the KGB was simply too well entrenched and too vigilant for the Americans to sneak past its nets.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
