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.

  1. (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.

Origin of Nazi

1
First recorded in 1930–35; from German Nazi, short for Nationalsozialist “National Socialist”

usage note For Nazi

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.

Other words from Nazi

  • an·ti-Na·zi, adjective, noun
  • pro-Na·zi, adjective, noun

Words Nearby Nazi

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Nazi in a sentence

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

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

    Death Makes A Mistake | P.F. Costello
  • Hall never wrote his story on the refugee banker (who later turned up as a Nazi economist overlord in Denmark).

    The Five Arrows | Allan Chase
  • Hall told them of Jerry's accidental discovery and of the events which followed and brought about the death of the Nazi.

    The Five Arrows | Allan Chase
  • I know, as you do, that Falangist Spaniards on shore are working with the Nazi undersea raiders.

    The Five Arrows | Allan Chase

British Dictionary definitions for Nazi

Nazi

/ (ˈnɑːtsɪ) /


nounplural Nazis
  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

adjective
  1. of, characteristic of, or relating to the Nazis

Origin of Nazi

1
C20: from German, phonetic spelling of the first two syllables of Nationalsozialist National Socialist

Derived forms of Nazi

  • Nazism (ˈnɑːtˌsɪzəm) or Naziism (ˈnɑːtsɪˌɪzəm), noun

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