protofascist sentiment
- noun
- /ˌproʊtoʊˈfæʃɪst ˈsɛntɪmənt/
- Formal
:
sentimiento protofascista
- The leader's speech was criticized for containing protofascist sentiment that alarmed many observers.
Examples
-
There is concern that protofascist sentiment can flourish in times of economic hardship.
-
Historians study periods where protofascist sentiment paved the way for more extreme movements.
-
The protofascist sentiment is rising.
-
Many express protofascist sentiments today.
-
Historians study periods where protofascist sentiment paved the way for more extreme movements.
-
The leader's speech was criticized for containing protofascist sentiment that alarmed many observers.
-
There is concern that protofascist sentiment can flourish in times of economic hardship.
How Authoritarian
58
7.5
- Formal
Surface Forms
Morphology
protofascist + sentiment
The phrase is compositionally transparent: 'protofascist' can be parsed as proto- (early/precursor) + fascist (supporting fascism) and 'sentiment' means a feeling or attitude, so the overall meaning 'an early indication of fascist attitudes' follows directly from the parts. Although 'protofascist' is specialised and less frequent, the prefixation pattern is productive and cross-linguistically recognizable, so a learner who knows the constituent elements would infer the meaning.
Etymology
Protofascist sentiment combines proto- meaning 'early' and sentiment meaning 'public feeling'. Think of small seeds—mean speeches, symbols, or angry crowds—that can grow into a larger fascist movement, so the phrase means 'early signs of fascist beliefs'.