Industrial Workers of the World
- proper noun
:
Trabajadores Industriales del Mundo
- The Industrial Workers of the World organized a major strike to demand better working conditions for laborers across the country.
Examples
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Industrial Workers of the World leader Covington Hall's reports from Louisiana remind us that we know little about how unionists and workers generally conceived of race.
Academic text (1997) -
They were among the first workers out of the mills, and it was an Italian American who contacted Wobbly Joseph Ettor, asking him on behalf of the strikers for the Industrial Workers of the World.
Academic text (1997) -
Formed in 1905, the Industrial Workers of the World, commonly known as the Wobblies, advocated for the rights of workers and a more equitable society.
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Throughout history, the Industrial Workers of the World has played a crucial role in labor movements, promoting solidarity among workers internationally.
Synonyms
2
9.9
A radical labor union in the United States founded in 1905 that organized workers
Surface Forms
Morphology
industrial + worker + of + the + world
A B1 learner who knows 'industrial', 'workers', 'of', 'the', and 'world' can reasonably infer this refers to a group or organization of industrial workers with a global scope. However, the specific historical identity, political stance, and nickname ('the Wobblies') are not derivable from the constituents alone, so the expression is only partially predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Industrial Workers of the World comes from the image of workers from many places joining together in one world group. That image helps you remember it was a 'union' that fought for workers' rights and big changes, and people often called them the 'Wobblies'.