ENGLISH
REFERENCE

world wide web

compound.
Definition

compound. the collection of all the websites and pages you can see on the internet using a browser.

compound. an information system of interlinked hypertext documents and other resources accessed via the internet. Often used with the definite article 'the'.


SIMPLE

The World Wide Web changed how we share information.

CONTEXTUAL

Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989 to help scientists share data more easily.

COMPLEX

While the internet refers to the underlying global network of hardware, the World Wide Web is the software layer that allows users to navigate content through hyperlinks.

Origin

Coined in 1990 by Tim Berners-Lee, the term describes a global system of interconnected documents. It is frequently shortened to the initialism WWW.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Usage

Always capitalised and typically preceded by 'the'.

Pitfall

I searched on World Wide WebI searched on the World Wide WebThe term is a unique proper noun and requires the definite article 'the'.

Related words

Last updated July 22, 2026