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Gestapo

American  
[guh-stah-poh, guh-shtah-poh] / gəˈstɑ poʊ, gəˈʃtɑ poʊ /

noun

  1. the German state secret police during the Nazi regime, organized in 1933 and notorious for its brutal methods and operations.

adjective

  1. (sometimes lowercase) of or resembling the Nazi Gestapo, especially in the brutal suppression of opposition.

    The new regime is using gestapo tactics.
Gestapo British  
/ ɡɛˈstɑːpəʊ, ɡeˈʃtaːpo /

noun

  1. the secret state police in Nazi Germany, noted for its brutal methods of interrogation

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Gestapo Cultural  

  1. The secret police of the Third Reich in Germany. The Gestapo operated against Germans suspected of treason by using brutal interrogation and torture; they instilled widespread fear by their terrorist methods.

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Figuratively, any brutal secret police organization may be called a “gestapo.”

“Gestapo tactics” in general are intimidating official procedures.

Etymology

Origin of Gestapo

< German Ge ( heime ) Sta ( ats ) po ( lizei )

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Does anyone think it would have been a good idea to keep an allegedly “reformed” Gestapo in place as a postwar law enforcement agency?

From Salon

“To say the men and women of ICE are Gestapo is wrong,” Lyons said.

From The Wall Street Journal

Reckzeh had been set up as a spy and agent provocateur by the Gestapo: Thadden had been fooled by his elaborately constructed cover story.

From The Wall Street Journal

Among the evidence Antony's investigation has unearthed is a list made by the Gestapo, detailing specific artefacts and paintings which were seized from his relatives.

From BBC

Eric Roberts, known as Jack King, had posed as a Gestapo agent, to find and work with Nazi sympathisers in Britain.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.