Iron Curtain Definition

noun

A barrier of secrecy and censorship regarded as isolating the Soviet Union and other countries in its sphere.

Webster's New World

A similar barrier to information in other regions.

Webster's New World

A barrier made of iron in the theatre, lowered between the stage and the auditorium for safety or to prevent communication.

Wiktionary

(idiomatic) Any impenetrable barrier.

Wiktionary

pronoun

(historical) The dividing line between Western Europe and the Soviet controlled regions, especially during the Cold War.

5 March 1946: From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an "iron curtain" has descended across the Continent. — speech by Winston Churchill.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Iron Curtain

Noun

Singular:

iron curtain

Plural:

iron-curtains

Origin of Iron Curtain

Used (in German) during World War II by Joseph Goebbels. In English it appeared in telegrams from Winston Churchill to Harry S. Truman in 1945 before being popularized by Churchill in a speech he gave at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri 5 March 1946. (Reference: wikipedia on Iron Curtain, and Nigel Rees, Sayings of the Century on telegrams.)

From Wiktionary