Nazi
Americannoun
plural
Nazis-
a member of the National Socialist German Workers' Party, which controlled Germany from 1933 to 1945 under Adolf Hitler and advocated totalitarian government, territorial expansion, antisemitism, and Aryan supremacy, all these leading directly to World War II and the Holocaust.
-
(often lowercase) a person elsewhere who holds similar views.
-
(often lowercase) a person who is fanatically dedicated to or seeks to regulate a specified activity, practice, etc..
a jazz nazi who disdains other forms of music;
health nazis trying to ban junk food.
adjective
noun
-
a member of the fascist National Socialist German Workers' Party, which was founded in 1919 and seized political control in Germany in 1933 under Adolf Hitler
-
derogatory anyone who thinks or acts like a Nazi, esp showing racism, brutality, etc
adjective
Sensitive Note
Nazi in the extended sense of “a fanatical or domineering person” has existed at least since 1980 and parallels the use of the word police in the language police/the grammar police . Though this usage of Nazi is usually intended as jocular, it implies being intolerant of other people’s views and practices. And many people consider any extended use of the word Nazi to be offensive, in that it trivializes the terrible crimes of the German Nazis.
Other Word Forms
- Nazism noun
- anti-Nazi adjective
- pro-Nazi adjective
Etymology
Origin of Nazi
First recorded in 1930–35; from German Nazi, short for Nationalsozialist “National Socialist”
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.
In a memoir called Ausländer – the German word for foreigner or outsider – Sir Michael charts his family's treatment under the Nazis.
From BBC
When the Allies occupied defeated Germany, they systematically removed the symbols and regalia of Nazi rule, as at the Nazi Party’s rallying grounds at Nuremberg.
From Salon
“My God, the Nazis knew how to put themselves in the limelight and present themselves,” said Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music in 2007.
It has lasted longer than Nazi Germany's brutal war on the Soviet Union, known here as the Great Patriotic War.
From BBC
Last year, two streets in Braunau am Inn commemorating Nazis were renamed after years of complaints by activists.
From Barron's
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.
