Third World country
11
4.7
- noun
- /θɜrd wɜrld ˈkʌntri/
- Slur
:
país del Tercer Mundo
- Many organizations focus on improving education in Third World countries to help lift communities out of poverty.
- many Third World countries
- other Third World countries
- poor Third World countries
I grew up in Brazil in a third world country, and we did OK.
- I grew up in Brazil in a third world country, and we did OK.
- We now deal with China, India and the third world countries competing in the same markets that we do.
- They doing it from underdeveloped third world countries with slow Internet connections to facilitate trade across nations.
- So you can't demand rights because the guy is coming from that third world country who is happy to work for less.
- This sculpture out of tin cans, this little boy in the third world country.
- And with these third world countries like you guys are down on your nonprofits down in Peru, El Salvador has adopted it as its primary currency.
Examples
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They've become known around the world as having not only one of the best healthcare systems, but as being one of the most generous countries in providing doctors and medical equipment to Third World countries.
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In Guatemala, as in many Third World countries, the battle is over the concept of development.
Academic text (1990) -
We should go to a third world country and we should do a we should do a free show for the people.
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You know, something like building houses in Third World countries.
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It's like a Third World country out here.
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The main problem in education in Third World countries is not the lack of technology.
Blog text (21) -
I grew up in Brazil in a third world country, and we did OK.
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Foreign aid programs and private foundations also make it possible for libraries in Third World countries to receive Western academic journals.
Academic text (2000) -
The article discusses these issues in the context of the politics of liberal economic reform in Third World countries.
Academic text (1995) -
Rural populations' "rush to the cities" has dramatically reshaped the landscape of Third World countries in the second half of this century.
Academic text (1997)
Synonyms
45
3.0
A country with low income and few factories that is trying to make life better for its people
How Developed
Surface Forms
Morphology
The label "Third World" is a conventional, historically and politically grounded classification whose meaning (developing/low-income countries) cannot be predicted from the literal senses of 'third' + 'world' + 'country'. A B1 learner who only knows the constituent words is unlikely to derive the socio-economic and Cold War origins or the contemporary usage, so the phrase functions as an idiomatic label rather than a transparent composition.
Etymology
Third World country began after World War II when people divided nations into groups: the 'First World' (Western allies), the 'Second World' (countries led by the Soviet Union) and the Third group for those not in either side, so the name Third World stuck. Because many countries in that Third World had less money and services, the phrase came to mean a 'developing country' today.