postwar

adjective

post·​war ˈpōs(t)-ˌwär How to pronounce postwar (audio)
: occurring or existing after a war
especially : occurring or existing after World War II

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web Collectively, this scene was the incubator for some of the greatest songwriting talents of the postwar era. Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Los Angeles Times, 2 June 2023 Like many postwar artists, both Gray Foy and Si Lewen rejected the mechanical precision of realism in favor of more dreamlike scenes. Brittanie Shey, Chron, 21 Apr. 2023 The architecture and design critic Alexandra Lange, in a phone interview, described the postwar milieu in which female designers like Ms. Adler Schnee were remaking the American home. Penelope Green, New York Times, 15 Jan. 2023 Alarmed by increasing security threats and the risk of war in the Indo-Pacific, Japan will seek to purchase hundreds of U.S.-built Tomahawk cruise missiles as part of a major defense buildup unprecedented in the postwar period, Japanese and U.S. officials said. Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post, 12 Dec. 2022 His turn of phrase suited a homogeneous and class-abiding Britain yearning for an end to postwar privations, a country that didn’t really recognize the emerging restiveness of the Commonwealth nations beyond its borders. Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 9 May 2023 Letters from the camps indicate that some Shinto practices survived there, even without priests, but largely faded from view in the postwar era. oregonlive, 30 Apr. 2023 But 19th-century furnishings and sculptures tell only half the story: the Rahr-West Art Museum also counts a permanent collection of modernist and postwar pieces by luminaries like Pablo Picasso, Georgia O'Keeffe, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol. Nicholas Derenzo, Travel + Leisure, 30 Apr. 2023 Groups like the Ku Klux Klan have been able to use this postwar opportunity for their own purposes: recruitment and radicalization. Kathleen Belew, The Conversation, 25 Apr. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'postwar.' 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

1853, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of postwar was in 1853

Dictionary Entries Near postwar

Cite this Entry

“Postwar.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/postwar. Accessed 10 Jun. 2023.

Kids Definition

postwar

adjective
post·​war ˈpōst-ˈwȯ(ə)r How to pronounce postwar (audio)
: of, relating to, or being a period after a war
postwar Europe

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