jackbooted

[ jak-boo-tid ]

adjective

1. wearing jackboots.
2. brutally and oppressively bullying:

   a jackbooted militarism.

Word History and Origins

Origin of jackbooted¹

First recorded in 1840–50; jackboot + -ed ³

Example Sentences

His immediate predecessor in the 8 p.m. weeknight slot, Tucker Carlson, spun baroque ethnonationalist theories while fluffing dictatorial strongmen—but Watters is hardly articulate, imaginative, or ambitious enough to follow in Carlson’s jackbooted footsteps.

From Slate

They depicted the 87,000 workers who might be hired with the appropriation as an army of jackbooted thugs poised to knock down the doors of ordinary Americans.

From Los Angeles Times

They clashed swords with villains in business suits and mowed through jackbooted minions.

From New York Times

Coming on the jackbooted heels of Trump’s use of Hitler’s term "vermin" to describing the large majority of the U.S. population who aren't members of his weird, violence-seeking cult — which includes many Republicans and actual Christians — I wondered whether something similar had been used by Nazi propagandists against those who criticized Hitler.

From Salon

It should be recalled that when Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act in April 2022, Republicans mischaracterized the $80 billion in additional IRS funding provided by the measure into a plan to create a horde of jackbooted government thugs empowered to rip the bread out of middle-class infants’ mouths.

From Los Angeles Times