brownshirt

[ broun-shurt ]

noun

, (often initial capital letter)

1. a Nazi.
2. a Nazi storm trooper.

Word History and Origins

Origin of brownshirt¹

1930–35; brown + shirt so called from the color of the shirt worn as part of the uniform

Example Sentences

But the most famous Nazi martyr, the Ashli Babbit of his day if you will, was a young anti-communist brownshirt by the name of Horst Wessel who was a known violent brawler in the pitched street battles between left and right during those days.

From Salon

The former wife of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes detailed how her ex-husband became a "brownshirt for Trump" in a new interview with The Daily Beast.

From Salon

But that hasn’t stopped a certain breed of heedless politician and sensation-hungry activist from blithely throwing out Nazi analogies and words like brownshirt to defend former President Trump’s misappropriation of highly classified documents, or to vilify public health workers trying to stem a raging pandemic that has killed more than 6 million people.

From Los Angeles Times

He said the protest at the social affairs minister’s house had crossed a “red line,” harking back to the torch-lit Nazi brownshirt rallies of the 1930s.

From Washington Post

Ashli Babbit, the Jan. 6th insurrectionist who was shot by a security guard as she climbed through a broken window just a few feet away from members of Congress, is Donald Trump's Horst Wessel, the German brownshirt who was murdered in 1930 and turned into a martyr by the Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.

From Salon