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

Etymology

Origin of Germanism

First recorded in 1605–15; German + -ism

Example Sentences

In a series of Advent sermons that packed St. Michael's Church he condemned the false choice that the Nazis had tried to place before Catholics�the choice between "Germanism" and disloyalty.

From Time Magazine Archive

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

Teuton′icism, Teu′tonism, a Germanism; Teutonisā′tion, the act of Germanising.—v.t. and v.i.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various

In the significant character, habits and activities of this household may be found the true pith and essence of real Germanism as normally developed.

From Villa Elsa A Story of German Family Life by Henry, Stuart Oliver

Let us look at the whole matter, both the biology and the Germanism, in the light of freedom from dogma and outraged feeling.

From The Unpopular Review, Number 19 July-December 1918 by Various