Vietnam

PluralVietnams

1. 1
   proper noun

   A country in Southeast Asia, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, with its capital at Hanoi.

   Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, draws visitors to its centuries-old quarter.

   Vietnam's economy has grown rapidly since the country opened its markets in the late 1980s.

   Note

   The name came into English from Vietnamese Việt Nam. The two-word spelling Viet Nam, closer to the original, still appears beside the closed form, and Nam is the informal clipping. Every figurative use of the word grows out of the war fought here rather than out of the country itself. That is why a place name can stand for a quagmire, a danger zone or a lost cause.

2. 2
   proper nouncolloquialUS

   The war fought in Vietnam from the mid-1950s to 1975, in which the United States supported South Vietnam against the communist North.

   Public opinion turned sharply against Vietnam after the Tet Offensive.

   She lost two cousins to Vietnam before the draft ended.

   SimilarNam

   Note

   In American speech the bare place name does duty for the war, much as people speak of protesting or remembering Vietnam. It works as a modifier too, and it takes prefixes: Michael Bronski in 1983 calls David Rabe's Streamers an anti-Viet Nam play. The tone is colloquial. In careful writing, or for readers outside the US, the Vietnam War is the clearer choice.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   A long, drawn-out war or conflict in which a dominant foreign occupying power proves unable to secure victory.

   Commentators warned that the occupation was becoming another Vietnam.

   Military advisers feared the campaign would turn into a Vietnam for the coalition.

   Similarquagmire

   Note

   A countable noun built from a proper name, so it takes articles and a plural: another Vietnam, two Vietnams. The commonest frame is the possessive, which names the power that got stuck. The Soviet Union's Vietnam was Afghanistan, and France's is said of the Algerian War or the First Indochina War. Unlike the personal "no-win" sense, this one stays with armies and occupations.

4. 4
   nounslangUScountable

   A place that is extremely dangerous, especially one plagued by violence.

   The whole block became a Vietnam once the rival crews started shooting.

   Friday nights, the emergency room is a Vietnam: gunshot wounds, stabbings, the works.

   Similarbattlefield

   Note

   Slang that turns a neighborhood or a city into a war zone, as when Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg rap in 1992 of coming home to California as though it were Vietnam. The point is danger and violence, not stalemate, which separates it from the "unwinnable occupation" sense. It is American and street-level in tone, so it belongs in casual talk, lyrics and fiction rather than in reporting.

5. 5
   nounslangUScountable

   A situation in which one cannot win, no matter what course of action one takes.

   The lawsuit turned into a Vietnam, draining both sides no matter who gained ground.

   Negotiating with that landlord is a Vietnam: give in and you lose, push back and you lose more.

   Similarquagmire

   Note

   The war shrunk to personal size: a project, a relationship or a job that cannot be won. It usually comes with a possessive pronoun. Francis Coppola groans "It was my Vietnam," and They Might Be Giants sing "Judy is your Viet Nam." It is slang and often rueful or comic, so it suits talk about one's own ordeals better than formal prose.

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