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

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

Germanism was for several decades, in spite of the mighty and over-towering height of its Kultur, hindered in the imparting of this Kultur to other nations.

From Gems (?) of German Thought by William Archer

Miss von Schwertfeger said not a word, but with aquiline nose in the air held aloft the banner of Germanism.

From The Song of Songs by Hermann Sudermann

Germanism, with its ideal of force, is contrasted with the ideal of Greek and Christian culture and philosophy.

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

The result is that much of the Germanism of that age, sometimes far off from the great towns, still survives.

From Human, All-Too-Human, Part II by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche