iron curtain

1. often Iron Curtain The military, political, and ideological barrier established between the Soviet bloc and western Europe from 1945 to 1990.

2. A barrier that prevents free exchange of ideas and information: "That department and the editorial department are separated by an almost impenetrable iron curtain" (Brendan Gill).

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Iron Curtain

(Government, Politics & Diplomacy)

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

b. (as modifier): Iron Curtain countries.

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

i′ron cur′tain

(sometimes caps.) a barrier to understanding and the exchange of information created by the hostility of one country toward another, esp. such a barrier between the Soviet Union or its allies and other countries.

[1920–25]

Iron Curtain

The barrier, political and military, that was considered to separate the Soviet bloc from western Europe after World War II.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

iron curtain - 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

ideological barrier - a barrier to cooperation or interaction resulting from conflicting ideologies

Translations

vasfüggöny

cortina di ferro

Iron Curtain

n (Pol) the Iron Curtain → la cortina di ferro
Iron Curtain countries or countries behind the Iron Curtain → gli stati d'oltrecortina

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

We were now in a bare and roomy lobby behind the shop, but separated therefrom by an iron curtain, the very sight of which filled me with despair.

The iron curtain was down, but he insisted on raising it until I could peep through the glass door on the other side and see his handiwork in the shop beyond.

The weak point of these iron curtains is the leverage you can get from below.

View in context

Prior to the issuance of SAB 108, the AICPA's Auditing Standards Board (ASB) had considered revising Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) 47, Audit Risk and Materiality in Conducting an Audit, to require the use of the iron curtain approach:

Sunbeam & the 'iron curtain': why a dual test for materiality assessment was necessary

Who described the spread of Communism across Europe as "an iron curtain"?--.

The Cold War

Meanwhile, an interview with another State Department spy--Noel Field, who fled behind the Iron Curtain when he fell under suspicion in 1949--was discovered in the archives of the Hungarian security police.

Fools for Communism: still apologists after all these years

The iron curtain had come down in Europe but still stood between the communities in Northern Ireland, said William Stainsby, Director of Cedar House Cultural Institute near Derry/Londonderry.

Journalists look to their role in ethnic conflicts

Three Scots truckers are holed up in their freezing cabs behind the Iron Curtain after refusing to give border guards backhanders.

Freeze fears for truckers

All involved, and especially Yeltsin, had agreed to include several onetime Iron Curtain nations in a new NATO.

Give us news that's fit

Hunched behind the Iron Curtain. Holed up in a study carrel cramming for midterms.

Where were they then?

Realizing there was little for the firm's clients to design and build in the United States, the firm's Construction Industry Practice Group turned its sights to the former "iron curtain" countries to help clients expand their opportunities abroad.

Law firm offers link to Eastern Europe