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Synonyms

world war

American  

noun

world wars plural
  1. a war that involves most of the principal nations of the world.


Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of world war

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

As Warren’s account reflects, Americans at the time knew it was a world war.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 26, 2026

For example, children born to mothers who endured famine in the Netherlands during the second world war were more likely to develop heart disease, type 2 diabetes and schizophrenia later in life.

From Science Daily Jun. 17, 2026

Eliot theorized in his 1925 poem “The Hollow Men,” a bleak assessment of life after the first world war.

From Barron's Jun. 1, 2026

There’s nothing coincidental in the fact that military schools also rose up around then, and that they kept multiplying past the first world war and up to the second one.

From Los Angeles Times May 22, 2026

She had seen many mountains that even a world war had not destroyed.

From "A Place to Belong" by Cynthia Kadohata

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