Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Iron Curtain |
Iron CurtainNoun1. An impenetrable barrier to communication or information especially as imposed by rigid censorship and secrecy; used by Winston Churchill in 1946 to describe the demarcation between democratic and communist countries. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Crosswords: Iron Curtain |
| Specialty definitions using "iron curtain": kremvax ♦ lanyon shield. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow."
The phrase had been used a year earlier, in an article on "The Year 2000" by Joseph Goebbels[1]:
"If the German people lay down their weapons, the Soviets, according to the agreement between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin, would occupy all of East and Southeast Europe along with the greater part of the Reich. An iron curtain would fall over this enormous territory controlled by the Soviet Union, behind which nations would be slaughtered."
Allen Dulles used the term in a speech on December 3, 1945, referring to only Germany:
It is difficult to say what is going on, but in general the Russians are acting little better than thugs. They have wiped out all the liquid assets. No food cards are issued to Germans, who are forced to travel on foot into the Russian zone, often more dead than alive. An iron curtain has descended over the fate of these people and very likely conditions are truly terrible. The promises at Yalta to the contrary, probably 8 to 10 million people are being enslaved.
It was Churchill's speech which popularized the phrase, and made it known to much of the public, however.
Although the phrase was not well received at the time, as the Cold War strengthened it gained popularity as a short-hand reference to the division of Europe. The Iron Curtain served to keep people in and information out, and the metaphor eventually enjoyed wide acceptance in the West. A variant, the Bamboo Curtain, was coined in reference to Communist China.
As the standoff between the Free World and the countries of the Iron and Bamboo curtains eased, with the West's victory in the Cold War, the term fell out of any but historical usage.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Iron Curtain."
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Iron Curtain (1948) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Iron curtain. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Winston S. Churchill | 1946 | In front of the iron curtain which lies across Europe are other causes for anxiety. ("Iron Curtain" Speech) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
John F. Kennedy | 1961-1963 | Thus, we in the free world are moving steadily toward unity and cooperation, in the teeth of that old Bolshevik prophecy, and at the very time when extraordinary rumbles of discord can be heard across the Iron Curtain. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Expressions using "iron curtain": iron curtain countries ♦ the iron curtain. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
iron curtain | 120 |
wrought iron curtain rod | 20 |
iron curtain rod | 15 |
iron curtain lab | 11 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "iron curtain"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | الستار الحديدي (the iron curtain). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | rautaesirippu. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | rideau de fer. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | der eiserne Vorhang (the iron curtain). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | vasfüggöny (fire-proof curtain, safety curtain). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 鉄のカーテン . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | てつのカーテン. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | Yn Curtan Yiarn (The Iron Curtain). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ironay urtaincay железный занавес. (various references) järnridån (the iron curtain). (various references) เขตแบ่งประเทศคอมมิวนิสต์กับอ"ีตโซเวียตจากยุโรปตะวันตก. (various references) demirperde. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-i-i-n-n-o-r-r-t-u" | |
-2 letters: incaution, ruination, urination. | |
-3 letters: carrotin, continua, countian, inaction, uranitic. | |
-4 letters: actinon, anionic, auction, carotin, carrion, caution, contain, courant, curator, currant, curtain, nicotin, nocturn, noritic, rainout, rancour, ruction, tricorn, unction, unicorn. | |
-5 letters: action, anoint, anuric, aortic, aroint, atonic, cannot, canton, cantor, carrot, carton, cation, citrin, citron, contra, cornua, cortin, craton, curari, curran, iatric, incant, intron. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-i-i-n-n-o-r-r-t-u" | |
+2 letters: undoctrinaire. | |
+3 letters: anticorruption, counterraiding, insurrectional. | |
+4 letters: anticorruptions, counterirritant, insurrectionary, reconfiguration. | |
+5 letters: counterirritants, countertradition, macroinstruction, reconfigurations. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)49 72 6F 6E 43 75 72 74 61 69 6E |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
|
Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01001001 01110010 01101111 01101110 00100000 01000011 01110101 01110010 01110100 01100001 01101001 01101110 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)I r o n   C u r t a i n |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0049 0072 006F 006E 0043 0075 0072 0074 0061 0069 006E |
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)43848180237878486677580 |
| Language | Coverage | Language Translations |
Arabic | معجم, قاموس, الوضوحية في الشيء, حد, تحديد, تعريف, التحديد, الإيضاحية, ترجمة من لغة أجنبية للغة الأم, ترجمة, إفتتان | العربية, عربي, اللغة العربية, arabialainen, arabe, arabisch, arab, Arabish, арабский, arabisk, าษาหรืออักขระอาหรับ, เกี่ยวกับอาระเบีย, arapça, arap, araplara özgü |
Finnish | määritelmä, translaatio, taajuusmuutos | اللغة الفنلندية, فنلندية, فنلندي, suomi, suomalainen, finnois, Finlandaise, finlandais, finnisch, finn, Fynlannish, Fynlannagh, финский, finsk, fince, finlandiya'ya özgü |
French | dictionnaire, définition, traduction | اللغة الفرنسية, فرنسي, الشعب الفرنسي, ranskalainen, français, französisch, francia, フレコン化 , 仏文 , フランス" , 仏 , ふつぶ", ふつ, フレンチ , フランセ , Ny Frangee, Mooinjey ny Frank, французский, fransk, franska, fransızca, fransız, Fransiz, fransızca ile ilgili, fransa ile ilgili |
German | Übersetzung, Wörterbuch, Definition | ضرب من الرقص, جرماني, الماني, اللغة الألمانية, المانية, saksalainen, allemand, német, ジプシー音楽 , ジャーマン , Germaanish, Germaanagh, Garmane, Carmane, немецкий, tysk, าษาเยอรมัน, เยอรมัน, alman |
Hungarian | szótár, meghatározás, definíció, fordítás | مجري, المجري, الهنغاري, هنغاري, اللغة الهنغارية, unkarilainen, hongrois, Ungar, magyar, Ungaarish, Ungaaragh, венгр, венгерский, ungrare, ชาวฮังการี, macarca, macar |
Japanese Kanji | 辭典 , 辞典 , 字引 , 辞林 , 字書 , ディーゼル電気車 , 言海 , 辞彙 , 辞書 , 確定 , ディーゼル電気車 , デ'ドロ酢酸 , 翻訳 | يابانية, ياباني, اليابانية, اللغة اليابانية, japanilainen, Japonais, japaner, japanisch, japán, 邦語 , 邦人 , ジャスミン茶 , ほう", ジャパニーズ , ほうじ", Shapaanagh, Shapaanish, японский, японец, japansk, คนญี่ปุ่น, าษาญี่ปุ่น, เกี่ยวกับญี่ปุ่น, Japonca |
Japanese Katakana | じい, じびき, じて", ディクショナリー , じり", じしょ, '"かい, ディクショナリ , デフィニション , ディフィニション , ていぎ, かくてい, へい"ういどう, やくじゅつ, トランスレーション , やくしょ, やくしゅつ, "うどく, ほ"やく, ほ"やくしょ | يابانية, ياباني, اليابانية, اللغة اليابانية, japanilainen, Japonais, japaner, japanisch, japán, 邦語 , 邦人 , ジャスミン茶 , ほう", ジャパニーズ , ほうじ", Shapaanagh, Shapaanish, японский, японец, japansk, คนญี่ปุ่น, าษาญี่ปุ่น, เกี่ยวกับญี่ปุ่น, Japonca |
Manx | fockleyr, geyrid, meenaghey, keeayllaght, baght | manx, mann-szigeti nyelv, Manninish, Manninagh, Gaelgagh, Yn Ghaelg, язык жителей о-ва мэн, с о-ва мэн, från ön man, man adası, man dili |
Russian | словарь, определение, трансляция, сдвиг, перевод, перемещение | روسي, اللغة الروسية, الروسية, venäläinen, Russe, russisch, orosz, ロシア語 , ロシア", Rooshish, Rooshagh, русский, ryss, ชาวรัสเซีย, Rusça |
Swedish | ordbok, lexikon, översättning | اللغة السويدية, ruotsalainen, suédois, schwedisch, svéd, スウェーデン語 , スウェーデン", Soolynish, Soolynagh, шведский, svensk, เกี่ยวกับคน าษาและวั'นธรรมของประเทศสวีเ"น, isveççe, isveç dili, isveç, Ísveçlí |
Thai | พจนานุกรม | thaimaalainen, Thaïlandais, thailändisch, Thailänder, たい", thailändare, าษาไทย, เกี่ยวกับคนไทย, ที่เกี่ยวกับประเทศไทย, คนไทย, Tayland, Taylandlı, Tayland Dili, Tai Dili |
Turkish | sözlük, ansiklopedik sözlük, açıklama, belirleme, belirtme, kesinleştirme, tanım, tarif, seçiklik, tanımlama, tercüme | تركي أحد أبناء تركيا, اللغة التركية, turkkilainen, turque, türkisch, török, Yn Turkish, Turkagh, турецкий, turkisk, türkçe, türk |
English | Dictionary, Definition, Translation | الإنجليزية, الأنكليزي, إنكليزي, ترجمة إنكليزية, اللغة الإنكليزية, englantia, englantilainen, anglais, englisch, angol, Sostynagh, Sostnagh, Baarlagh, английский, engelsk, เกี่ยวกับประเทศอังกฤษ, ชาวอังกฤษ, าษาอังกฤษ, ingiltere, ingiliz, Íngílízce, ingilizce, Íngílíz, ýngilizce |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Quotations: Historic 7. Quotations: Speeches 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Anagrams 12. Orthography | 13. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
