Definitions

third world

NOUN

underdeveloped countries

Synonyms

WEAK

developing countries developing nations economically developing countries economically developing nations emergent nations underdeveloped nations

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In fact, on a midnight shift in Cheyenne Mountain, I even read Tom Clancy’s “Red Storm Rising,” which envisioned the Cold War gone hot, a Third World War gone nuclear.

From Salon • Dec. 7, 2025

Mr. Easterly is not a friend of rich-world technocrats or top-down dispensers of aid and omniscience who frequently fail to consult the very people—the Third World poor—for whose salvation they get paid handsomely.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 7, 2025

“You guys have put us into a Third World situation,” Scott Dittrich, a resident of Malibu, said at a Sept. 30 meeting that the city had with Edison to address the shutoffs.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 6, 2025

"I'm not going to start the Third World War for you," he is reported to have told General Wesley Clark.

From BBC • Oct. 15, 2024

He transferred to an Ivy League school, Brown, where he joined an organization called the Third World Center.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French