global village

noun

Definition of global village

: the world viewed as a community in which distance and isolation have been dramatically reduced by electronic media (such as television and the Internet)

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Did You Know?

The term global village is closely associated with Herbert Marshall McLuhan, the Canadian communications theorist and literature professor hailed by many as a prophet for the 20th century. McLuhan's mantra, "the medium is the message," summarized his view of the influence of television, computers, and other electronic information sources in shaping society and modern life. By 1960, he had delineated his concept of the "global village," and by 1970, the public had embraced the term and recognized the idea as both exhilarating and frightening. As a 1970 Saturday Review article noted, "There are no boundaries in a global village. All problems will become so intimate as to be one's own...."

Examples of global village in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Images that showed the transition from lights-on to the dramatic total blackout in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria last September brought home the fallacy of the global village. — Giovanna Dunmall, Curbed, "At Venice Architecture Biennale, U.S. pavilion tackles borders and citizenship," 31 May 2018 Technology could make the global village feel more like a fearful, distrusting swamp. — The Economist, "A faked video of Donald Trump points to a worrying future," 24 May 2018 Facebook, an agile private company, seemed poised to usher in the global village in a way that the United States, a lugubrious republic, never could. — Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, "Facebook's Ideological Imperialism," 30 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'global village.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.