world war
noun
: a war engaged in by all or most of the principal nations of the world
especially,
World War
: 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
Maybe not something drastic like a world war, slavery or the Holocaust, but there’s always shady s–t going on.
—
Carl Lamarre, Billboard, 3 Sep. 2025
By the late 1930s, the United States was unprepared for the scale of airpower a world war would demand.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 26 Aug. 2025
Directed by Ron Howard, the thriller tells the real-life tale of what became known as the Galapagos Affair, wherein a group of eight Europeans, disillusioned by the onset of fascism and a looming world war, settled on the uninhabited island of Floreana in 1929.
—EW.com, 23 Aug. 2025
Since 1945, there has not been another direct confrontation between great powers such as the two world wars.
—Charles Oppenheimer, Time, 17 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for world war
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Carl Lamarre, Billboard, 3 Sep. 2025
By the late 1930s, the United States was unprepared for the scale of airpower a world war would demand.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 26 Aug. 2025
Directed by Ron Howard, the thriller tells the real-life tale of what became known as the Galapagos Affair, wherein a group of eight Europeans, disillusioned by the onset of fascism and a looming world war, settled on the uninhabited island of Floreana in 1929.
—EW.com, 23 Aug. 2025
Since 1945, there has not been another direct confrontation between great powers such as the two world wars.
—Charles Oppenheimer, Time, 17 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for world war
Cite this Entry
“World war.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/world%20war. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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