Definition for Antebellum
From Biology Forums Dictionary
Meaning
Existing before a war, especially before the American Civil War (1861-65).
Sentence
When World War I was over, the French nobility found it impossible to return to their extravagant antebellum way of life.
Commentary
Often the word antebellum summons up images of ease, elegance, and entertainment on a grand scale that disappeared in the postwar years, That way of life in the American South depended on a social structure that collapsed after the war. The years after the Civil War - and many other wars - were coloured for some people by nostalgia and bitterness, and for others by relief and anticipation.
