pre-war

See also: prewar

English

Alternative forms

prewar

Etymology

pre- +‎ war

Adjective

pre-war (not comparable)

Before a war.
1. Before the most recent or significant war in a culture's history.
2. Before the outbreak of World War I in 1914.
3. Before the outbreak of World War II in 1939.
  1. Especially pre-war architecture: buildings (particularly in and around New York) built between 1900 and about 1940.
  2. Between the end of World War I in 1918 and the outbreak of World War II in 1939; interwar, especially Weimar Republic Germany.

Usage notes

With reference to the World Wars, pre-war (before the outbreak of World War I in 1914) is contrasted with interwar (between the end of World War I in 1918 and the outbreak of World War II in 1939) and post-war (after the end of World War II in 1945), but is also used to refer to some period prior to the outbreak of World War II.

Synonyms

antebellum

Antonyms

post-war

Coordinate terms

interwar

Translations

Before a war

Belarusian: давае́нны (davajénny), перадвае́нны (pjeradvajénny)
Czech: předválečný (cs)
French: d'avant-guerre
German: Vorkriegs- (de), vorkrieglich
Hungarian: háború előtti
Italian: prebellico (it), antebellico
Latvian: pirmskara
Occitan: abansguèrra, prebellic, antebellic
Polish: przedwojenny (pl) m
Russian: довое́нный (ru) (dovojénnyj), предвое́нный (ru) (predvojénnyj)
Serbo-Croatian:
Roman: predratni (sh)
Slovak: predvojnový
Tagalog: dipa-digma
Ukrainian: довоє́нний (dovojénnyj), передвоє́нний (peredvojénnyj)

Anagrams

rewrap, warper