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iron curtain

UK/ˌaɪən ˈkɜːtn̩/US/ˌaɪ(ə)ɹn ˈkɜɹt(ə)n/
nounC1Not compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

The iron curtain was the closed border that divided Europe for decades. Behind the iron curtain.

The name was made famous by Churchill in 1946 and was not his invention. The iron curtain was a real fence and minefield rather than only a figure of speech.

Sémhur · CC BY-SA 4.0

Definitions of iron curtain

  1. 1nouniron curtainThe closed border that divided Europe for decades.C1

    “Everything behind the iron curtain was a rumour to most of Europe.”

iron curtain is a border.

Where it comes from

The phrase existed earlier and was made famous by Winston Churchill in a speech of 1946.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *ǵʰer-

  2. English, today

    iron curtain

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Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in History & Eras

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