Third World

Third World
   A phrase first used in the early 1950s to distinguish nations that were not aligned to the West or the Soviet Union in the Cold War. However, it became increasingly applied to countries that lagged behind in their economic development, being less industrialised or technologically advanced than more prosperous nations.
   Today, ‘Third World’ is much less used, commentators opting for ‘developing’, ‘less developed’ or ‘undeveloped’ world instead. The term is inappropriate because some of the countries once described as belonging to that category became the ‘Asian tigers’ of the late twentieth century. Some development workers now refer to the ‘two-thirds world’, as that is the proportion of the world which is underdeveloped.

Glossary of UK Government and Politics . 2013.

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  • Third World — ˌThird ˈWorld noun the Third World ECONOMICS the poorer countries of the world, that are not industrially developed: • The bank had stakes in several operations in the Third World. Third World adjective : • Third World countries * * * Third World …   Financial and business terms

  • Third World — (reggae) Pour les articles homonymes, voir Third World (homonymie). Third World est un groupe de reggae formé en 1973 par Stephen Cat Coore, guitariste, et Michael Ibo Cooper, clavier, qui venaient de quitter Inner Circle. Sommaire 1 Biographie …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Third world — (reggae) Pour les articles homonymes, voir Third World (homonymie). Third World est un groupe de reggae formé en 1973 par Stephen Cat Coore, guitariste, et Michael Ibo Cooper, clavier, qui venaient de quitter Inner Circle. Sommaire 1 Biographie …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Third World — ist eine jamaikanische Reggae Band. Ihr Sound beinhaltet Einflüsse von Funk, Soul und Disco. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Geschichte 2 Alben (Auswahl) 3 Weblinks …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Third World — n the Third World the poorer countries of the world that are not industrially developed. Some people now consider this expression offensive. >Third World adj ▪ Third World debt …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • Third-World — [thʉrd′wʉrld΄] adj. of or like the Third World; specif., economically underdeveloped, politically unstable, etc. [a third world standard of living] * * * See Third World. * * * …   Universalium

  • Third World — adjective 1. ) OFFENSIVE Third World countries are poor and do not have much industrial development. People now prefer to use the word developing. 2. ) relating to developing countries: Third World debt …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • third-world — [thʉrd′wʉrld΄] adj. of or like the Third World; specif., economically underdeveloped, politically unstable, etc. [a third world standard of living] …   English World dictionary

  • Third World — 1963, from Fr. tiers monde, formulated 1952 by A. Sauvy on model of the third estate (Fr. tiers état) of Revolutionary France; his first world (The West) and second world (the Soviet bloc) never caught on …   Etymology dictionary

  • Third World|er — «WURL duhr», a person belonging to the Third World, especially an African or Asian …   Useful english dictionary

  • Third World — n. [<Fr tiers monde] [also t w ] 1. those countries and territories, chiefly of Africa and Asia, once thought of as being outside the worlds, or spheres of influence, of the Western capitalist nations and the Soviet bloc 2. the poor and… …   English World dictionary

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