World War III

English

Alternative forms

• World War Three

Proper noun

World War III

1. A hypothetical world war following World War II.
   • 1963, Bob Dylan (lyrics and music), “Talkin' World War III Blues”, in The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan:

     One time ago a crazy dream came to me / I dreamt I was walking into World War Three

   • 1964, Harry S. Truman, 2:16 from the start, in MP2002-410 Several Cuts of Former President Truman Talking about Wars and Korea‎^[1], Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives Identifier: 595162:

     And I also wanted to be sure to keep Chiang Kai-shek, who had some notion of starting a World War Number Three, from going into China and doing just that.

   • 1983, Lawrence Lasker, Walter F. Parkes, WarGames, spoken by Paul Richter:

     The WOPR [War Operations Planning Response] has already fought World War III as a game time and time again.

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

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)
• Belarusian: Трэ́цяя сусве́тная вайна́ f (Trécjaja susvjétnaja vajná)
• Catalan: Tercera Guerra Mundial f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 第三次世界大戰／第三次世界大战 (dìsāncì shìjiè dàzhàn)

• Danish: tredje verdenskrig c, 3. verdenskrig c
• Dutch: Derde Wereldoorlog (nl) m
• Esperanto: Tria Mondmilito
• 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
• Italian: Terza Guerra Mondiale f
• Japanese: 第三次世界大戦 (daisanji sekai taisen)
• Khmer: សង្គ្រាមលោកលើកទី៣ (songkreeum saagoloak dee bei)
• Korean: 제삼차 세계 대전(第三次世界大戰), 제3차 세계 대전(第3次世界大戰) (jesamcha segye daejeon)
• Macedonian: Трета светска војна f (Treta svetska vojna), III светска војна f (III svetska vojna)
• Marathi: तिसरे विश्व युद्ध n (tisre viśva yuddha)
• Navajo: tááʼ góneʼ yéigo daʼahijoogą́ą́ʼ
• Norwegian: tredje verdenskrig m
• Persian: جنگ جهانی سوم (jang-e jahâni-ye sevvom)
• Portuguese: terceira guerra mundial f
• Russian: тре́тья мирова́я война́ f (trétʹja mirovája vojná)
• Spanish: Tercera Guerra Mundial
• Swedish: tredje världskriget n
• Tagalog: Ikatlong Digmaang Pandaigdig
• Turkish: Üçüncü Dünya Savaşı, 3. Dünya Savaşı
• Ukrainian: Тре́тя світова́ війна́ f (Trétja svitová vijná)
• Vietnamese: Chiến tranh thế giới thứ ba, Đệ tam thế chiến
• Volapük: volakrig kilid