post-war

post-war — adjective

1. connected with the time, society, and conditions that follow a large-scale war —

1.adjectiveB1
Definition

connected with the time, society, and conditions that follow a large-scale war — particularly World War I and World War II, including the rebuilding and social changes those conflicts set in motion.

Example

Many European cities were rebuilt during the post-war period.

before noun usage: post-war + period / era / years

The post-war economy in Japan grew quickly with American help.

Common collocations
  • post-war period
  • post-war era
  • post-war years
  • post-war generation
  • post-war reconstruction
  • post-war economy
  • post-war society
  • post-war art
  • post-war architecture
Synonyms
  • post-conflict

    broader term that includes civil wars and smaller conflicts; more formal

  • postbellum

    very formal, used mainly for the US Civil War period in American history

Antonyms
  • pre-war

    opposite — the time before a war

  • wartime

    during, not after, the war

Grammar Patterns

post-war + noun

Usage Note

Usually placed before a noun. The opposite is 'pre-war'. When referring to a specific historical period, it may be capitalised ('the Post-war era'), though lowercase is more common in general writing.

Common Mistakes

She was born in post-war.
She was born in the post-war period.
'post-war' is an adjective; it must modify a noun and cannot stand alone as a noun phrase.
post-war the conflict, the city grew
After the war, the city grew.
'post-war' is not a preposition. Use 'after the war' for the adverbial meaning.

Word family

  • postwar
    adjectiveB1
  • pre-war
    adjectiveB1
  • wartime
    nounB1
  • war
    nounA2

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All three describe periods after a war. 'Post-war' is the most common, everyday term, used for any major war and especially the world wars of the 20th century — e.g., 'post-war housing' or 'the post-war baby boom'. 'Post-conflict' is broader and more formal, covering civil wars, regional conflicts, and peacekeeping missions — e.g., 'post-conflict reconstruction in Rwanda'. 'Postbellum' is very narrow and formal, used almost exclusively in US history for the period after the American Civil War (1861–1865) — e.g., 'postbellum Southern agriculture'. In everyday writing, 'post-war' is nearly always the right choice.

post-war ↗post-conflictpostbellum

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • the post-war period
  • the post-war years
  • post-war reconstruction

Etymology

LatinOld High GermanOld North FrenchEnglish

Formed by adding the prefix 'post-' (from Latin, meaning 'after' or 'behind') to the noun 'war' (from Old North French 'werre', itself from Old High German 'werra' meaning 'confusion' or 'strife'). The compound became common in English during the early twentieth century, especially after the First World War, to describe the new social, political, and economic conditions that followed the conflict.