World War II
12
2.5
- proper noun
- /wɜrld wɔr tu/
- Literature
:
Segunda Guerra Mundial
- The Allies formed a united front against the Axis powers during World War II to restore peace and security.
Examples
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In the final weeks of World War II, Hitler finally admitted to an aide that the war was lost.
Blog text (27) -
You see, it's a World War II spy thriller.
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- Yeah, he was an art collector around World War II.
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He served in World War II.
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It was very popular before World War II.
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During World War II, the Swiss central bank stored its reserves here
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After World War II, striptease was more influenced by the movies.
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It is the only memorial in Europe dedicated to the service of African-American GIs in World War II.
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Founded in the aftermath of World War II, the WIDF was formed in November 1945 at the World Congress of Women in Paris, with approximately 850 women from forty countries in attendance.
Academic text (2016) -
Various G.I. bills enacted since the end of World War II have enabled millions of demobilized armed forces veterans to earn undergraduate and graduate degrees at colleges of their own choosing.
Academic text (2016)
Synonyms
93
2.7
A global war from 1939 to 1945 involving many countries
47
1.8
A worldwide war from 1939 to 1945 between the Allies and the Axis
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'world' + 'war' describes a global armed conflict and 'II' (Roman numeral two) signals it is the second such war, so a learner who knows the constituents can infer it refers to the second worldwide war. This naming pattern and numeral convention are cross-linguistically common, making the phrase transparent even though specific dates or historical details are not implied.
Etymology
World War II comes from a simple idea: the word World shows it involved many countries around the world, and the II means 'the second' big war. So World War II refers to that major global war from 1939 to 1945.