blitzkrieg
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of blitzkrieg
1935–40; < German, equivalent to Blitz lightning + Krieg war
Explanation
A blitzkrieg is an intense and brutal military campaign. If you're studying the history of World War II, you'll eventually come across the word blitzkrieg. The noun blitzkrieg means a very quick, particularly violent and intimidating attack by one armed force against an enemy, but it almost always refers specifically to the German military offensive during World War II. The word blitzkrieg means "rapid attack" in German, from blitz, or "lightning," paired with krieg, or "war." The blitzkrieg waged by Germany on England in 1940 and 1941 is often referred to as "the Blitz."
Vocabulary lists containing blitzkrieg
A Separate Peace
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National Spelling Bee '14: Prelims Round 2
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World War II
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And there’s chemo, general Blitzkrieg bombing, destroy your body’s ability to produce cells at all, or a writ small version of chemo, which is targeted clinical therapies.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026
This was not by any means a Blitzkrieg, and the prerequisite for any modern war - the destruction of the enemy's communications - simply never happened.
From BBC • Mar. 5, 2022
Hitler believed that his Blitzkrieg strategy would allow his forces to prevail against larger foes before they could mobilize all their resources.
From Washington Post • Dec. 31, 2020
Blitzkrieg had originally been conceived by a French officer, Charles de Gaulle, in a military tactical plan regarding mobile warfare.
From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2020
The Germans continue to strike Poland hard and fast, in a new kind of warfare called a Blitzkrieg, a lightning-fast war.
From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
