global village

noun

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

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 The two companies built devoted followings by promising to build populist technology for a changing world: X, formerly known as Twitter, with its global village of conversations, and OpenAI, the research lab behind ChatGPT, with its super-intelligent companions for human thought. Drew Harwell, Washington Post, 23 Nov. 2023 The panel touched on issues of identity, generational change and the development of the post-pandemic, streaming-era global village. Variety, NBC News, 9 Oct. 2023 We’re each assigned a spot in that global village, the homelands reflecting the international nature of the refugee crisis: Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Somalia all get competing, squabbling enclaves. Peter Marks, Washington Post, 28 Mar. 2023 Nair feels that with the streamers transforming the world into a global village and an increasing international awareness of the Indian film industry, there will be widespread interest in the series. Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 17 Jan. 2023 The entertainment industry is an increasingly global village, and this list surely reflects that. Andrew Wallenstein, Variety, 29 Dec. 2022 Rather, the modern global village expands the scope of those in your potential social network up to whole world. Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 16 June 2013 In the romantic version of the global village, trans-national media was meant to bring mutual understanding across borders. Peter Pomerantsev, Time, 21 Dec. 2022 The advent of easily accessible streaming technology has created a true global village for TV content. Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 18 Aug. 2022

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

1959, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of global village was in 1959

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Dictionary Entries Near global village

Cite this Entry

“Global village.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/global%20village. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

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