first world
Industrialized countries collectively
First world originally designated the Western capitalist democracies during the Cold War, as distinct from the Communist second world and the developing third world.
The term now broadly means wealthy, industrialized nations: first-world countries, first-world problems.
That last phrase—often used dismissively—refers to complaints that seem trivial compared to genuine hardship: Complaining about slow WiFi is such a first-world problem.
- developedGrew or advanced
- developed countriesHigh-income industrialized states
- wealthyHaving abundant financial resources
- industrializedHaving established manufacturing economies
- WesternOf Euro-American civilization
privileged · affluent · modern · advanced · prosperity · NATO · capitalism · democracy · Cold War · rich · superpower · infrastructure · economic power · technology · luxury · comfort · white picket fence · middle class
- economiesmarket economy, command economy, mixed economy, barter economy, cash economy
- regionsregion, regions, area, areas, zone
- global tradefree trade, export tax, exports, import tax, imports
- geopoliticsbalance of power, bipolarity, bloc, blocs, brinkmanship
- political entitiesnation, state, country, kingdom, republic
first worldthird world
Less developed nations collectively
developing nations · Global South · emerging economies · emerging markets
first worldthird world
Less developed nations collectively
underprivileged · disadvantaged · impoverished · deprived · marginalized
first, world, firsts, firstly, worlds, worldly, worldliness, unworldly, otherworldly