iron curtain

Or I·ron Cur·tain

[ahy-ern kur-tn]

noun

1. Usually the Iron Curtain the Cold War barrier created by political, ideological, and military hostility between Western democracies on the one hand and the Soviet Union and its allies on the other, preventing mutual understanding and the exchange of ideas, travel, etc..

   Even when I was living behind the Iron Curtain, some popular music seeped through from the West.

2. any barrier preventing the passage of ideas or understanding, especially an ideological, philosophical, or cultural barrier that divides countries, groups of people, or individuals.

   An iron curtain between theoreticians and creative artists prevented either group from appreciating the contributions of the other.

3. an impenetrable barrier to communication or information imposed by rigid censorship or secrecy.

   The incident is a growing embarrassment for the country on the international stage, meaning that an iron curtain must fall on the subject.

4. Theater.,  a safety curtain made of iron or other metal.

Iron Curtain

noun

1. 1. (formerly) the guarded border between the countries of the Soviet bloc and the rest of Europe

   2. ( as modifier )

      Iron Curtain countries

Iron Curtain

1. The former division between the communist nations of eastern Europe — the Eastern Bloc — and the noncommunist nations of western Europe. The term refers to the isolation that the Soviet Union imposed on its satellites in the Eastern Bloc and to the repressive measures of many Eastern Bloc governments. (See Berlin Wall (see also Berlin Wall) and cold war.)

The expression Iron Curtain was coined by Winston Churchill, who was prime minister of Britain in World War II. Churchill first used the term soon after the war, when the Soviet Union was beginning to carry out its plans for postwar dominance of eastern Europe.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Iron Curtain¹

Used in 1946 by Sir Winston Churchill to describe the line of demarcation between Western Europe and the Soviet zone of influence

Example Sentences

Buffer zones can create demilitarised zones between warring countries, such as North and South Korea, and physical boundaries such as the Iron Curtain - which separated the Soviet Union and the West following World War Two.

From BBC

After all, she was born Melanija Knavs behind the Iron Curtain in what was then the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

From Salon

The Central Intelligence Agency’s Manhattan-based “book club” office was run by an emigre from Romania named George Midden, who managed to send 10 million books behind the Iron Curtain.

From Los Angeles Times

Then, in 1952, the agency sent him to Europe for a year on a clandestine mission to acquire war-surplus arms to send behind the Iron Curtain and to nationalist Taiwan.

From Slate

Look at an election results map of Germany, and you could almost have travelled back in time to the Cold War, when an iron curtain divided communist East Germany from the west.

From BBC

Related Words

• blackout 
• calm 
• lull 
• peace 
• quiet 
• reticence 
• secrecy 
• stillness