short twentieth century
Syllables: short twen·ti·eth cen·tu·ry/ˈʃɔːt ˌtwɛn.(t)ɪ.əθ ˈsɛn.t͡ʃ(ʊ).ɹi/US/ˈʃoɹt ˌtwɛn.(t)ɪ.əθ ˈsɛn.(t)ʃ(ə).ɹi/
short twentieth century proper noun: the period between 1914 and 1991, from the beginning of World War I to the fall of the Soviet Union.
Proper noun
the short twentieth century
- The period between 1914 and 1991, from the beginning of World War I to the fall of the Soviet Union.
- How are we to make sense of the Short Twentieth Century, that is to say of the years from the outbreak of the First World War to the collapse of the USSR which, as we can now see in retrospect, forms a coherent historical period that has now ended? We do not know what will come next, and what the...1994, Eric Hobsbawm, “The Century: A Bird’s Eye View”, in The Age of Extremes: A History of the World, 1914–1991, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Pantheon Books, →ISBN, section II, page 5
- In the wake of the end of the short twentieth century and the related collapse of the received certainties of the cold war which had shaped the understandings of European and American thinkers, it has become clear that a new integrated global industrial-capitalist system is taking shape. […]...1997, P. W. Preston, “Global Changes and New Political-Cultural Identities”, in Political/Cultural Identity: Citizens and Nations in a Global Era, London; Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications...
Noun
short twentieth century (plural short twentieth centuries)
- Any period of years defined by significant historical events falling within the 20th century (1 January 1901 to 31 December 2000).
- […] Salvadorean history – including that of its literary development since independence – falls into three clear-cut periods: a very long 19th century until the Great Massacre of 1932; a very short 20th century from 1932 to the signing of the Peace Accords of 1992, and since then the possibility...1997, Roy C. Boland, “El Salvador: 19th- and 20th-century Prose and Poetry”, in Verity Smith, editor, Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature, Chicago, Ill.; London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers...
- This essay explores the comparison between the revolution which marked the opening of Russia’s ‘short twentieth century’, the overthrow of Tsarism and of the Provisional Government in 1917, and the upheaval which marked its close, the destruction of both traditional and reformed Communist rule.1999, Edward Acton, “The Parting of Ways: Comparing the Russian Revolutions of 1917 and 1991”, in Moira Donald, Tim Rees, editors, Reinterpreting Revolution in Twentieth-century Europe, London...
short twentieth century meaning in Arabic
short twentieth century in Arabic
- period between 1914 and 1991
- سده بيستم كوتاه
Examples of short twentieth century in a sentence
- We do not know what will come next, and what the third millennium will be like, even though we can be certain that the Short Twentieth Century will have shaped it.1994, Eric Hobsbawm, “The Century: A Bird’s Eye View”, in The Age of Extremes: A History of the World, 1914–1991, 1st American edition, New...
- The period covered by this book represents a ‘short twentieth century’ dating roughly from 1914 to 1970.2020, Thomas C. Mills, Rory M. Miller, “Introduction”, in Thomas C. Mills, Rory M. Miller, editors, Britain and the Growth of US Hegemony...
Forms of short twentieth century
| Proper noun | |
|---|---|
| alternative form | short 20th century |
| Noun | |
| plural | short twentieth centuries |
Origin of short twentieth century
The concept underlying the proper noun was developed by the Hungarian historian Iván Tibor Berend (born 1930), and the term itself was popularized by the British historian Eric Hobsbawm (1917–2012) in his book The Age of Extremes (1994). Like the corresponding terms long eighteenth century and long nineteenth century, it aims to define historical eras by significant events rather than by the arbitrary beginnings and ends of centuries. The common noun was probably derived from the proper noun.
Words that rhyme with short twentieth century
Questions about short twentieth century
- What does short twentieth century mean?
- Short twentieth century means the period between 1914 and 1991, from the beginning of World War I to the fall of the Soviet Union.
- What is short twentieth century in Arabic?
- Short twentieth century in Arabic is سده بيستم كوتاه. See Short twentieth century meaning in Arabic.
- How do you use short twentieth century in a sentence?
- We do not know what will come next, and what the third millennium will be like, even though we can be certain that the Short Twentieth Century will have shaped it.
- What part of speech is short twentieth century?
- Short twentieth century can be a proper noun or a noun.
- How do you pronounce short twentieth century?
- Short twentieth century is pronounced /ˈʃɔːt ˌtwɛn.(t)ɪ.əθ ˈsɛn.t͡ʃ(ʊ).ɹi/ (UK).
Words near short twentieth century in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: short twentieth century (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “short twentieth century.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/short_twentieth_century. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.