Nazi

American  

[naht-see, nat-] / ˈnɑt si, ˈnæt- /

noun

plural

Nazis

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.

3. (often lowercase) 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.

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adjective

1. of or relating to the Nazis.

Nazi British  

/ ˈnɑːtsɪ, ˈnɑːtsɪˌɪzəm, ˈnɑːtˌsɪzəm /

noun

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

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adjective

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

Sensitive Note

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 Word Forms

• Nazism noun
• anti-Nazi adjective
• pro-Nazi adjective

Etymology

Origin of Nazi

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

Example Sentences

The factory site has a long military tradition, having made equipment for the Nazi army, then cartridges for the communist regime.

From Barron's

One might as well conjecture that 1939’s “The Women” was a metaphor for the Nazi invasion of Poland.

From The Wall Street Journal

The prime minister has pointed to his government's criminalising of hate speech, banning the Nazi salute and hate symbols, and the creation of a student ombudsman with investigative powers.

From Barron's

His father, Michael Kast, fought for Germany on the front lines of World War II and was a Nazi party member, according to Germany’s federal archives.

From The Wall Street Journal

Its agents in 1960 had kidnapped Nazi Adolf Eichmann in Argentina and spirited him back to Israel for trial.

From The Wall Street Journal