WORLD WAR II

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does World War II mean? 

• WORLD WAR II (noun)
  The noun WORLD WAR II has 1 sense:

1. a war between the Allies (Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Iran, Iraq, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Philippines, Poland, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States, USSR, Yugoslavia) and the Axis (Albania, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Rumania, Slovakia, Thailand) from 1939 to 1945

  Familiarity information: WORLD WAR II used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WORLD WAR II (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A war between the Allies (Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Iran, Iraq, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Philippines, Poland, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States, USSR, Yugoslavia) and the Axis (Albania, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Rumania, Slovakia, Thailand) from 1939 to 1945

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

Second World War; World War 2; World War II

Instance hypernyms:

world war (a war in which the major nations of the world are involved)

Meronyms (parts of "World War II"):

Bataan; Corregidor (the peninsula and island in the Philippines where Japanese forces besieged American forces in World War II; United States forces surrendered in 1942 and recaptured the area in 1945)

Battle of Wake; Battle of Wake Island (in December 1941 the island was captured by the Japanese after a gallant last-ditch stand by a few hundred United States marines)

Makin; Tarawa; Tarawa-Makin (battles in World War II in the Pacific (November 1943); United States Marines took the islands from the Japanese after bitter fighting)

Battle of the Somme; Somme; Somme River (battle of World War II (1944))

Salerno (a battle in World War II; the port was captured by United States troops in September 1943)

Saipan (US forces captured the island from the Japanese in July 1944; it was an important air base until the end of World War II)

battle of the Philippine Sea; Philippine Sea (a naval battle in World War II (1944); a decisive naval victory for the United States fleet over the Japanese who were trying to block supplies from reaching American troops on Leyte)

Okinawa; Okinawa campaign (a campaign in the closing days of World War II in the Pacific (April to June 1945); in savage close-quarter fighting United States marines and regular army troops took the island from the Japanese; considered the greatest victory of the Pacific campaign for the Americans)

Battle of Midway; Midway (naval battle of World War II (June 1942); American planes based on land and on carriers decisively defeated a Japanese fleet on its way to invade the Midway Islands)

Leyte; Leyte invasion; Leyte Island (a battle in World War II; the return of United States troops to the Philippines began with landings on Leyte Island in October 1944; the battle marked first use of kamikaze aircraft by the Japanese)

Kwajalein (an amphibious assault in the Pacific in World War II (January 1944); American forces landed and captured a Japanese air base)

invasion of Iwo; Iwo; Iwo Jima (a bloody and prolonged operation on the island of Iwo Jima in which American marines landed and defeated Japanese defenders (February and March 1945))

Battle of Guadalcanal; Guadalcanal (a battle in World War II in the Pacific (1942-1943); the island was occupied by the Japanese and later recaptured by American forces)

Eniwetok (World War II (February 1944); American infantry landed and captured a Japanese stronghold)

Al Alamayn; Battle of El Alamein; El Alamein (a pitched battle in World War II (1942) resulting in a decisive Allied victory by British troops under Montgomery over German troops under Rommel)

Dunkerque; Dunkirk (an amphibious evacuation in World War II (1940) when 330,000 Allied troops had to be evacuated from the beaches in northern France in a desperate retreat under enemy fire)

battle of the Coral Sea; Coral Sea (a Japanese defeat in World War II (May 1942); the first naval battle fought entirely by planes based on aircraft carriers)

battle of the Bismarck Sea; Bismarck Sea (a naval battle in World War II; Allied land-based bombers destroyed a Japanese convoy in the Bismarck Sea in March 1943)

Ardennes counteroffensive; Battle of the Ardennes Bulge; Battle of the Bulge (a battle during World War II; in December 1944 von Rundstedt launched a powerful counteroffensive in the forest at Ardennes and caught the Allies by surprise)

Battle of Britain (the prolonged bombardment of British cities by the German Luftwaffe during World War II and the aerial combat that accompanied it)

Domain member category:

Fighting French; Free French (a French movement during World War II that was organized in London by Charles de Gaulle to fight for the liberation of France from German control and for the restoration of the republic)

 Context examples 

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists in Peoria, Illinois, helped mass produce the antibiotic during World War II to treat Allied soldiers and later civilians.

(Soil Bacterium Tapped for Penicillin Guard Duty, U.S. Department of Agriculture)

The Lost 52 Project, named after the number of U.S. Navy submarines sunk during World War II, has previously located several of those vessels — three or four by varying reports — using data released by the U.S. Navy.

(Lost 52 Project announces discovery of wrecked sub near Okinawa, Wikinews)

Additionally, within the monument expansion area, there are shipwrecks and downed aircraft from the Battle of Midway in World War II, a battle that marked a major shift in the progress of the war in favor of the Allies.

(National monument in Hawaii becomes world's largest marine protected area, NOAA)

Part of the most remote island archipelago on Earth, Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monumen is home to more than 7,000 marine species, including coral, fish, seals, turtles, whales, and several shipwrecks, and serves as the final resting place for more than 3,000 sailors and soldiers who served during World War II.

(National monument in Hawaii becomes world's largest marine protected area, NOAA)