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Nazi

[ naht-see, nat- ]

noun

, plural Na·zis.
  1. 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.
  2. (often lowercase) a person elsewhere who holds similar views.
  3. (often lowercase) Sometimes Offensive. 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

  1. of or relating to the Nazis.

Nazi

/ ˈnɑːtsɪ; ˈnɑːtsɪˌɪzəm; ˈnɑːtˌsɪzəm /

noun

  1. 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
  2. derogatory.
    anyone who thinks or acts like a Nazi, esp showing racism, brutality, etc
“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


adjective

  1. of, characteristic of, or relating to the Nazis
“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
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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.
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Derived Forms

  • Nazism, noun
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Other Words From

  • an·ti-Na·zi adjective noun
  • pro-Na·zi adjective noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of Nazi1

First recorded in 1930–35; from German Nazi, short for Nationalsozialist “National Socialist”
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Word History and Origins

Origin of Nazi1

C20: from German, phonetic spelling of the first two syllables of Nationalsozialist National Socialist
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Example Sentences

Duke was a state representative whose neo-Nazi alliances were disgorged in media reports during his run for governor in 1991.

They were just way too aggressive to try and maintain on a farm here,” says Gow of his “Nazi cows.

The attempt to “breed back” the Auroch of Teutonic legend was of a piece with the Nazi obsession with racial purity and eugenics.

And Duke was a closet Nazi getting exposed by an avalanche of reporting.

When Hitler became chancellor on Jan. 30, 1933, Hildebrand was confronted with a choice: Would he remain in Nazi Germany?

Once Turing looked hard at it, he figured out that the Nazi cryptographers had made a mathematical mistake.

Just why an Axis agent would be staring at him he had no idea, but he still felt sure the man was a Nazi.

Hall never wrote his story on the refugee banker (who later turned up as a Nazi economist overlord in Denmark).

Hall told them of Jerry's accidental discovery and of the events which followed and brought about the death of the Nazi.

I know, as you do, that Falangist Spaniards on shore are working with the Nazi undersea raiders.

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