to denazify

9.9

To remove Nazi ideas and influence from people, groups, or institutions after World War II

verb
/ˌdiːˈnɑːzɪfaɪ/

Formal

: desnazificar

The new government made efforts to denazify the educational system by replacing Nazi-era propaganda with factual history.

Examples

To promote democracy, the country launched initiatives to denazify organizations that had previously supported extremist views.
After World War II, the Allies worked to denazify Germany by removing Nazi officials from government positions.
And the statement that you refuse to denazify... ...has the Russians, the British, everybody, screaming.

Patton (1970)
But he was obliged to be denazified.

TÁR (2022)

Antonyms

to nazify

Slur

1 9.9

To force a person, group, or place to accept Nazi ideas and rules

How Nazi-free

to denazify

Formal

9.9

to eradicate

85 6.6

to remove

∞ 1.5

to limit

∞ 2.1

to ignore

∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

denazify infinitive

denazified past

denazified past participle

denazifying present participle

denazifies third person singular

Morphology

denazify = nazify (transparent) = de + Nazi + fy

The meaning is a straightforward reversal of 'nazify', so 'denazify' clearly means to remove Nazi character, ideology, or influence.

Etymology

The word denazify is made of de- meaning 'remove', the word Nazi for the Nazi movement, and -fy meaning 'to make', like in beautify. So, to denazify is to 'remove Nazi influence' or to make a person or institution free of Nazi ideas.