adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Before a war. not-comparable

   "For quotations using this term, see Citations:prewar."

2. 2
   Before a war.; Before the most recent or significant war in a culture's history. not-comparable
3. 3
   Before a war.; Before the outbreak of World War I in 1914. not-comparable
4. 4
   Before a war.; Before the outbreak of World War II in 1939.; Especially pre-war architecture: buildings (particularly in and around New York) built between 1900 and about 1940. not-comparable
5. 5
   Before a war.; Before the outbreak of World War II in 1939.; Between the end of World War I in 1918 and the outbreak of World War II in 1939; interwar, especially Weimar Republic Germany. not-comparable

Synonyms

All synonyms

antebelluminterwar

Antonyms

All antonyms

post-warpostbellum

Example

More examples

"This is a wonderful pre-war whiskey."

Etymology

From pre- + war.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.