Brownshirt
2
9.8
- noun
- /ˈbraʊnˌʃɜrt/
- Archaic
:
camisa marrón
- Through an open door, we could see a grand office with a desk in the middle and a self-important brownshirt sitting behind it.
Examples
-
The radical right was set to become a homegrown American version of the brownshirts.
Blog text (25) -
Mayor Max and the other brownshirts stretched out their right arms.
Fiction book (2001) -
All you need now is some brownshirts knocking heads with clubs.
Blog text (4) -
In their zeal, however, the students and brownshirts had grabbed many books, those of Heine and others, whether they were listed or not.
Academic text (2003) -
Brownshirts had vandalized shops, blown up the Pforzheim synagogue, and broken into Jewish apartments.
Academic text (2011) -
Since early afternoon, ten, twelve, maybe even fourteen SA had been driving up and down the village in brownshirts, angular trousers, and boots with gleaming leggings.
Fiction book (2001) -
Members of the Nazi Party, known as brownshirts, were notorious for their violent tactics against opponents.
-
During the 1930s, the brownshirts were feared for enforcing Nazi ideology through intimidation and violence.
-
The brownshirts, who wore distinctive brown uniforms, played a key role in the rise of the Nazi regime.
Synonyms
1
9.5
A member of a Nazi armed group that used violence before and during World War II
Compounds
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Brownshirt comes from the words brown and shirt, because members of the Nazi SA, the party's armed group, wore brown shirts in 1920s Germany and the name literally means 'brown shirt'. So Brownshirt today refers to a member of that violent Nazi group who used fear and violence against political opponents.