terrorist act
19
7.2
- noun
- /ˈtɛrərist ækt/
- NSFW
:
acto terrorista
- Churches have been burned, there have been terrorist acts in Indonesia.
- commit terrorist acts
- plan terrorist acts
- such terrorist acts
Well, you can carry out terrorist acts.
- Well, you can carry out terrorist acts.
- But these terrorist acts, they come back to the same thing.
Examples
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Does a terrorist act justify full-scale war as a response?
Academic text (2002) -
The attack on the concert was a chilling terrorist act aimed at instilling fear in the public.
-
Could this be a terrorist act?
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Local authorities reported it as a terrorist act.
-
This was a terrorist act.
-
The world has been made less safe as the threat of terrorist acts against the United States and other nations has increased.
Academic text (2004) -
America will be brought to its knees by this terrorist act.
-
What I can't figure out is why calling this a terrorist act or not is relevant.
Blog text (4) -
More than 150 cities across the globe experienced at least one terrorist act between 1993 and 1997, and many more have since then.
Academic text (2002) -
- Good evening, today our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts.
Synonyms
110
3.9
A sudden violent act against civilians to make people afraid and reach political or religious goals
15
6.9
A violent act against ordinary people to frighten others for political, religious or other beliefs
How Violent
- Offensive
198
7.0
- NSFW
110
3.9
- NSFW
19
7.2
84
6.5
∞
1.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase is directly compositional: 'terrorist' denotes someone who carries out politically motivated violence and 'act' denotes a deed, so together they denote an action carried out by a terrorist. This adjective + noun combination follows ordinary, cross‑linguistic composition patterns (e.g. 'acto terrorista'/'acte terroriste'), making the meaning predictable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
The compound noun terrorist act names an action meant to spread fear. It joins terror (strong fear) and act (something done) to describe violent deeds by groups that frighten ordinary people to reach political goals, so today it means an attack 'to cause fear' or 'to force change'.