third world
Less industrialized countries
Third world originally designated countries not aligned with either NATO or the Communist bloc during the Cold War—a "third" path distinct from the capitalist West and Soviet East.
The term shifted to mean economically underdeveloped nations, often in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
This usage now carries condescending overtones, implying backwardness or poverty.
Many prefer "developing nations" or "Global South." As a modifier, it describes substandard conditions: third-world infrastructure, like a third-world country. (Capitalized Third World is the same term in formal or proper-noun contexts.)
Insufficiently grown or advanced
- substandardBelow required quality
- backwardToward what's behind
- inferiorOf lower rank
- impoverishedExtremely lacking in money
dysfunctional · rundown · decrepit · shabby · squalid · primitive
underdeveloped
Insufficiently grown or advanced
- substandardBelow required quality
- backwardToward what's behind
- inferiorOf lower rank
impoverished · dysfunctional · rundown · decrepit · shabby · squalid · primitive
- economiesmarket economy, command economy, mixed economy, barter economy, cash economy
- Liberation Theologyliberation theology, praxis
- regionsregion, regions, area, areas, zone
- global tradefree trade, export tax, exports, import tax, imports
- pre-industrial lifefarming, agriculture, handicrafts, traditional methods, manual labor
- Cold WarBerlin Wall, Iron Curtain, arms race, Warsaw Pact, Cuban Missile Crisis