global village

noun

: the world viewed as a community in which distance and isolation have been dramatically reduced by electronic media (such as television and the Internet)

Did you know?

The term global village is closely associated with Herbert Marshall McLuhan, the Canadian communications theorist and literature professor hailed by many as a prophet for the 20th century. McLuhan's mantra, "the medium is the message," summarized his view of the influence of television, computers, and other electronic information sources in shaping society and modern life. By 1960, he had delineated his concept of the "global village," and by 1970, the public had embraced the term and recognized the idea as both exhilarating and frightening. As a 1970 Saturday Review article noted, "There are no boundaries in a global village. All problems will become so intimate as to be one's own...."

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web The advent of easily accessible streaming technology has created a true global village for TV content.

Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 18 Aug. 2022 Han knows this territory intimately: a car-culture web of roads, home to a global village, attracting immigrants from near and far, changing a one-time farm town into a multilingual metropolis.

Dallas News, 12 Nov. 2020 Censorship laws will mean another set of walls dividing the global village.

The Economist, 7 Nov. 2019 Here nonprofits work together to assist a working class global village of immigrant and refugee families who speak about two dozen languages.

Dianne Solis, Dallas News, 8 Apr. 2020 In today’s global village, an outbreak anywhere has the potential to travel everywhere.

Howard Markel, Wired, 4 Mar. 2020 The peoples of the world have seen the movement of globalization nurture in them this common dream of seeing the Earth become a genuine global village.

San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Sep. 2019 Images that showed the transition from lights-on to the dramatic total blackout in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria last September brought home the fallacy of the global village.

Giovanna Dunmall, Curbed, 31 May 2018 Technology could make the global village feel more like a fearful, distrusting swamp.

The Economist, 24 May 2018 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'global village.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Word History

First Known Use

1959, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of global village was in 1959

See more words from the same year

Podcast

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global village

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Cite this Entry

Style

“Global village.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/global%20village. Accessed 7 Dec. 2022.

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