a war between the Allies (Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Iran, Iraq, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Philippines, Poland, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States, USSR, Yugoslavia) and the Axis (Albania, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Rumania, Slovakia, Thailand) from 1939 to 1945

A war fought between 1939 and 1945 where the Axis was defeated by the Allies.

A war fought from 1939 to 1945, in which Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, the United States, China, and other allies defeated Germany, Italy, and Japan.

(noun) A conflict that involved virtually every part of the world during the years 1939-45. The principal belligerents were the Axis powers--Germany, Italy, and Japan--and the Allies--France, Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and, to a lesser extent, China.

Fought from 1939 to 1945 on fronts including western Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East, Eurasia, southwestern Asia, China, and the Pacific; ended with defeat of Germany and Japan in 1945. (p. 849)

World War II (abbreviated WWII), or the Second World War, was a worldwide conflict fought between the Allied Powers and the Axis Powers, from 1939 until 1945. Armed forces from over seventy nations engaged in aerial, naval, and ground-based combat. Spanning much of the globe, World War II resulted in the deaths of over sixty million people, making it the deadliest conflict in human history.