Meaning of Cold War | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A period of hostile relations between rivals where direct open warfare between them is largely undesired and avoided; especially, either the Cold War or Cold War II.
   uncountable
2. The period of hostility short of open war between the Soviet Bloc and the Western powers, especially the United States, between 1945 and 1991.
   historical

Equivalents

Examples

“Well Russia at the present time is at a crossroads. It is often said that the Cold War is over and that the West has won it- that's only half true. Because what has happened is that the communists have been defeated, but the ideas of freedom now are on trial. If they don't work, there will be a reversion to, not communism which has failed, but what I call a new despotism which would pose a mortal danger to the rest of the world because it would be infected with the virus of Russian imperialism which of course has been a characteristic of Russian foreign policy for centuries.”

“The situation in Berlin had its uses for Moscow, of course, as for others–the city had become the primary listening post and spy center of the Cold War; some 70 different agencies were operating there by 1961, and it was in Berlin that Soviet espionage scored some of their greatest successes.”

“The dynamic tests at Wildenrath use continuous test tracks built on the site of a former Royal Air Force station that was vacated after the end of the Cold War.”

“1945, George Orwell, "You and the Atom Bomb", Tribune, 19 October 1945; reprinted in Orwell, Sonia Orwell, and Ian Angus, George Orwell: The Collected Essays, Journalism & Letters, Volume 4: In Front of Your Nose (1946–1950), David R. Godine (2000), ISBN →ISBN, page 9, James Burnham's theory has been much discussed, but few people have yet considered its ideological implications—that is, the kind of world-view, the kind of beliefs, and the social structure that would probably prevail in a state which was at once unconquerable and in a permanent state of “cold war” with its neighbours.”

“1951, Daniel V. Gallery, Clear the Decks, 19 October 1945, page 100, World War III started on VJ Day as a cold war. It began to warm up when the Russians blockaded Berlin and nearly reached the exploding point in Korea.”

“It's just an old war / Not even a cold war”

“The world economy is on the brink of a second cold war that could “annihilate” progress made since the collapse of the Soviet Union, a senior International Monetary Fund official has warned.”

CEFR level