Meanings
- The period of relative peace in the Western world since the end of World War II in 1945, coinciding with the military and economic dominance of the United States.
A war like this — a voluntary war of aggression — would be a sign that Putin believed that Pax Americana was over and that the U.S., the European Union and their allies had become too weak to exact painful consequences.
2022 February 21, David Leonhardt, “Why Ukraine Is Different”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 28 Apr 20221 more example
Earlier this month Boston's WBUR radio station titled a special on US imperial power with the Latin tag Pax Americana. Tom Wolfe has written that the America of today is “now the mightiest power on earth, as omnipotent as… Rome under Julius Caesar”.
2002 September 18, Jonathan Freedland, “Rome, AD… Rome, DC?”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 15 Mar 2022Synonyms: long peace
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounThe period of relative peace in the Western world since the end of World War II in 1945, coinciding with the military and economic dominance of the United States.
Origin
- Latinpāx“peace”
- EnglishPax Americana
From Latin pāx (“peace”) + Americāna (“American”) after the model of the imperial Roman Pāx Rōmāna and earlier British Pāx Britannica.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French pax americana, paix américaine
- pax americanaperiod of relative peace in the Western world
- paix américaineperiod of relative peace in the Western world
German Pax Americana, pax americana
- Pax Americanaperiod of relative peace in the Western world
- pax americanaperiod of relative peace in the Western world
Japanese パクス・アメリカーナ
- パクス・アメリカーナ (pakusu amerikāna)period of relative peace in the Western world
Korean 팍스 아메리카나
- 팍스 아메리카나 (pakseu amerikana)period of relative peace in the Western world
Spanish Pax Americana
- Pax Americanaperiod of relative peace in the Western world
Cite this entry
Pax Americana. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Pax%20Americana
“Pax Americana.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Pax%20Americana. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Pax Americana,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Pax%20Americana.
Source: Pax Americana on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.