World War III

English

Proper noun

World War III

1. A hypothetical world war following, and on an equal or greater scale to, World War II.

Usage notes

During the Cold War this term implied instantaneous world destruction. With the various subsequent conventional wars, that implication is becoming much less common. It is now more often used colloquially to exaggerate personal arguments, such as conflicts within a nuclear family.

Synonyms

• Third World War
• World War Three

Related terms

• world war
• World War I
• World War II
• World War IV

Translations

hypothetical world war (World War III)

• Arabic: اَلْحَرْبُ اَلْعَالَمِيَّةُ اَلثَّالِثَة f (al-ḥarbu l-ʕālamiyyatu ṯ-ṯāliṯa)
• Armenian: երրորդ համաշխարհային պատերազմ (errord hamašxarhayin paterazm)
• Catalan: Tercera Guerra Mundial f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 第三次世界大戰／第三次世界大战 (Dì-sān Cì Shìjiè Dàzhàn), 第三次世界大战 (dìsāncì shìjiè dàzhàn)

• Danish: tredje verdenskrig c, 3. verdenskrig c
• Dutch: Derde Wereldoorlog (nl) m
• Finnish: kolmas maailmansota
• French: Troisième Guerre mondiale (fr) f
• Georgian: მესამე მსოფლიო ომი (mesame msoplio omi)
• German: Dritter Weltkrieg m
• Greek: Γ΄ Παγκόσμιος Πόλεμος m
• Hungarian: harmadik világháború
• Icelandic: þriðja heimsstyrjöldin f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: Terza Guerra Mondiale f
• Japanese: 第三次世界大戦 (daisanji sekai taisen)
• Khmer: សង្គ្រាមលោកលើកទី៣ (songkreeum saagoloak dee bei)
• Korean: 제3차 세계 대전 (jesamcha segye daejeon)
• Macedonian: Трета светска војна f (Treta svetska vojna)
• Marathi: तिसरे विश्व युद्ध n (tisre viśva yuddha)
• Navajo: tááʼ góneʼ yéigo daʼahijoogą́ą́ʼ
• Norwegian: tredje verdenskrig m
• Portuguese: terceira guerra mundial f
• Russian: тре́тья мирова́я война́ f (trétʹja mirovája vojná)
• Spanish: Tercera Guerra Mundial
• Turkish: Üçüncü Dünya Savaşı, 3. Dünya Savaşı
• Vietnamese: Chiến tranh thế giới thứ ba, Đệ tam thế chiến
• Volapük: volakrig kilid