Germanism

American  

[jur-muh-niz-uhm] / ˈdʒɜr məˌnɪz əm /

noun

1. a usage, idiom, or other feature that is characteristic of the German language.

2. a custom, manner, mode of thought, action, etc., that is characteristic of the German people.

3. extreme partiality for or attachment to Germany, Germans, or German customs, manners, etc.

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Germanism British  

/ ˈdʒɜːməˌnɪzəm /

noun

1. a word or idiom borrowed from or modelled on German

2. a German custom, trait, practice, etc

3. attachment to or high regard for German customs, institutions, etc

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Other Word Forms

• anti-Germanism
  noun
• pro-Germanism
  noun

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Etymology

Origin of Germanism

First recorded in 1605–15; German + -ism

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Germanism

The story is most memorable in the passages where Germanism is horribly mocked by events, as Plievier evokes those last, insane days when thoroughness turned into madness, tables of organization into the outlines of farce.

From Time Magazine Archive

Germany was quick to respond with Pan Germanism, that is, to bring all German-speaking nations under one scepter.

From The Story of Russia by R. Van Bergen

Humanism is said to be opposed to rationalism, or to nationalism, or specialization, or paganism, or Germanism as a whole, humanism often being thought of as the spirit of Greek or Christian thought and philosophy.

From The Psychology of Nations A Contribution to the Philosophy of History by G.E. Partridge

For this reason it was necessary to hold aloft the banner of Germanism, as Miss von Schwertfeger admonished lovingly.

From The Song of Songs by Hermann Sudermann

Germanism in America may be said to have been absolutely killed by the Lusitania incident, and only gradually came to life again.

From My Three Years in America by Johann Heinrich Andreas Hermann Albrecht Graf von Bernstorff

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