From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpre-warpre-war /ˌpriː ˈwɔː◂ $ -ˈwɔːr◂/ adjective [usually before noun] PMWARhappening or existing before a war, especially the Second World War OPP post-war pre-war Britain
Examples from the Corpus
pre-war• There was some pre-war and wartime development but the real growth began in the 1940s.• Tommy did all the pre-war Chapel outings.• But does it exist anywhere outside coiled up rolls of decaying celluloid of pre-war films?• Bert Hall, a true Texan soldier-of-fortune, already had a colourful pre-war flying career behind him.• The last of the pre-war Kindertransporte left Berlin on 31 August.• They feared a post-war depression but wanted a return to pre-war policies.• But that is looking back to pre-war pre-Blitz days.• Different sections of the pre-war work-force suffered from one or the other. 