interwar

adjective

in·​ter·​war ˌin-tər-ˈwȯr How to pronounce interwar (audio)
variants or less commonly inter-war
: occurring or existing in the time between wars and especially between the First and Second World Wars
the interwar period
interwar Germany

Examples of interwar in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web In 1948, there was also a strong European will to create a Jewish homeland, by using Britain’s interwar mandate of Palestine to found Israel. Hazlitt, 6 Mar. 2024 The book is premised on a counterfactual: What if the American Jewish intellectuals of the interwar period—that is, between the end of the Second World War and the Six-Day War—had been forced to wrestle with Zionism? Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 15 Feb. 2024 Outside control had been a constant: by the Russian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire until World War I; by Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and the Soviet Union in the interwar years; by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II; and by the Soviet Union between 1945 and 1991. Michael Kimmage, Foreign Affairs, 22 Aug. 2023 During the interwar period and Great Depression, the U.S. unemployment rate reached 20 percent — a trend the mobilization of a wartime economy would help reverse. Madeleine Kearns, National Review, 21 Jan. 2024 Basketball’s influence on Black culture continued to grow throughout the interwar period. Jared Bahir Browsh, Fortune, 2 Nov. 2023 He’s born in interwar England, among mahogany, silver, and ermine, with a full-time nurse and entrée to one of the finest schools in the land. Rachel Cusk, Harper's Magazine, 21 Sep. 2023 This piece, one of the most elaborate, was inspired by the marquetry of the interwar furniture designer Jean-Michel Frank. Nathan Heller, Vogue, 29 Aug. 2023 Ahmed is referring to the era in Tangier's history, beginning in the interwar period and peaking in the 1950s, when the city served as a licentious playground for a motley assortment of artists, socialites, and hedonists. Stephanie Rafanelli, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 Aug. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'interwar.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1930, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of interwar was in 1930

Dictionary Entries Near interwar

Cite this Entry

“Interwar.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/interwar. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

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