world war

Definition of world war

: a war engaged in by all or most of the principal nations of the world especially, capitalized both Ws : either of two such wars of the first half of the 20th century

Examples of world war in a Sentence

He fought in both World Wars. The nations were prepared for world war.

Recent Examples on the Web Murray compared the vaccine effort to sending a man to the moon or fighting a world war. — Lisa Mascaro, Fortune, "Biden’s national coronavirus strategy is starting to take shape—and it’s very different than Trump’s," 28 Nov. 2020 And this world war will, before too long, looks like it will be won. — Jeffrey Kluger, Time, "What Bill Gates Thinks About the State of the Fight Against COVID-19," 22 Dec. 2020 Murray compared the vaccine effort to sending a man to the moon or fighting a world war. — Lisa Mascaro, Fortune, "Biden’s national coronavirus strategy is starting to take shape—and it’s very different than Trump’s," 28 Nov. 2020 But its origins were as a backup in case of chaos caused by real-world war. — Mike Snider And Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY, "How Russian spy games moved online: Massive breach shows how espionage is carried out in the 21st century," 19 Dec. 2020 Murray compared the vaccine effort to sending a man to the moon or fighting a world war. — Lisa Mascaro, Fortune, "Biden’s national coronavirus strategy is starting to take shape—and it’s very different than Trump’s," 28 Nov. 2020 Murray compared the vaccine effort to sending a man to the moon or fighting a world war. — Lisa Mascaro, Fortune, "Biden’s national coronavirus strategy is starting to take shape—and it’s very different than Trump’s," 28 Nov. 2020 Or consider 1942, in the depths of a world war that was killing millions. — Richard Chin, Star Tribune, "2020 has been a bad year, but here's why it's not the worst," 27 Nov. 2020 Murray compared the vaccine effort to sending a man to the moon or fighting a world war. — Star Tribune, "Congress braces for Biden's national coronavirus strategy," 25 Nov. 2020

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

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about world war

Dictionary Entries near world war

Statistics for world war

Last Updated

22 Jan 2021

Cite this Entry

“World war.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/world%20war. Accessed 27 Jan. 2021.

Keep scrolling for more

WORD OF THE DAY

itinerant

Listen to the pronunciation of itinerant

See Definitions and Examples »

Get Word of the Day daily email!

Test Your Vocabulary

Slippery Words Quiz—Changing with the Times

What is an earlier meaning of nice?

How Strong Is Your Vocabulary?

Test your vocabulary with our 10-question quiz!

Anagram puzzles meet word search.