Anschluss

[ahn-shloo s]

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noun

union, especially the political union of Austria with Germany in 1938.

Origin of Anschluss

1920–25; < German: consolidation, joining together, equivalent to an- on, to + Schluss a closing

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for anschluss

alliance, affiliation, conspiracy, ring, compact, amalgamation, union, integration, combine, bloc, confederacy, federation, combination, faction, consolidation, fusion, unification, party, conjunction, league

Examples from the Web for anschluss

Contemporary Examples of anschluss

After the Russian anschluss in Crimea last week, people around the world are asking themselves uneasily: How far will Moscow go?
Putin’s Dream of Empire Doesn’t Stop at Crimea, Or Even Ukraine
Oleg Shynkarenko
March 23, 2014
Sound or not, Kennedy became ambassador in 1938, the year that Germany marched into Austria to create the Anschluss.
“The Patriarch”: Joseph Kennedy Sr.’s Outsized Life
Jacob Heilbrunn
November 21, 2012

Historical Examples of anschluss

The word "Anschluss" seems hardly to imply so complete a union as was afterwards aimed at by the German party in Vienna.
The Revolutionary Movement of 1848-9 in Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Germany
C. Edmund (Charles Edmund) Maurice

British Dictionary definitions for anschluss

Anschluss

noun

a political or economic union, esp the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany (1938)

Word Origin for Anschluss

German: from anschliessen to join

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

Word Origin and History for anschluss

1924, from German Anschluß, "connection; addition; junction," literally "joining, union," from anschließen "to join, annex," from an "at, to, toward" + schließen "to shut, close, lock, bolt; contract" (a marriage); see slot (n.2). Specifically the proposal to unite Germany and Austria, accomplished in 1938.