cold warnoun [ C ]
uk/ˌkəʊld ˈwɔːr/us/ˌkoʊld ˈwɔːr/a state of extreme unfriendliness existing between countries, especially countries with opposing political systems, that expresses itself not through fighting but through political pressure and threats. The expression is usually used of the relationship between the US and the Soviet Union after the Second World War.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
International relations: international politics & government
- accession
- allied
- Anglo-American
- ASEAN
- axes
- bloc
- buffer state
- geopolitics
- glasnost
- Group of Eight
- internation
- NAFTA
- the Allies
- the Geneva Convention
- the House of Representatives
- the Kremlin
- the new world order
- the North-South divide
- UNESCO
- UNICEF
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Examples from literature
- And we have a cold war with only one country, and they're the only ones who'd play a deadly trick like this.
- He makes his audience squirm with anxiety about how America is losing the cold war on all fronts, and makes them burn with desire to reverse this trend.