swastika
Americannoun
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a figure used as a symbol or an ornament in the Old World and in America since prehistoric times, consisting of a cross with arms of equal length, each arm having a continuation at right angles.
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this figure as the official emblem of the Nazi party and the Third Reich.
noun
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a primitive religious symbol or ornament in the shape of a Greek cross, usually having the ends of the arms bent at right angles in either a clockwise or anticlockwise direction
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this symbol with clockwise arms, officially adopted in 1935 as the emblem of Nazi Germany
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of swastika
1850–55; < Sanskrit svastika, equivalent to su- good, well (cognate with Greek eu- eu- ) + as- be ( see is) + -ti- abstract noun suffix + -ka secondary noun suffix
Vocabulary lists containing swastika
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In February last year, West started selling swastika T-shirts, prompting the commerce platform Shopify to take down his web store.
From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2026
While browsing a map of Madrid from 1940, Mr. Cheshire spotted a stamp in the top-left corner identifying its provenance: a black swastika.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
Rep. Dave Taylor responded to reports that a flag bearing a swastika was spotted in his office on Wednesday, calling it “vile and deeply inappropriate.”
From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2025
The manji symbol, which resembles a swastika, faces the opposite direction.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 5, 2024
Anyway, at least the swastika thing is over.
From "Linked" by Gordon Korman
Julie Menin, speaker of the New York City Council, wrote on social media that "multiple synagogues and private homes in Queens were vandalized overnight with swastikas and other antisemitic graffiti."
From Barron's ● May 4, 2026
Lunday said the reports of labeling swastikas and nooses as divisive were “categorically false.”
From Salon ● Nov. 21, 2025
They seized books ready for distribution that included images of swastikas, iron crosses and other Nazi symbols, an Argentine Federal Police unit said in a statement.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 13, 2023
And the ADL said swastikas were more prevalent than in previous years, with the symbols used in 792 acts of vandalism.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 23, 2023
But even in the middle of all this business with the swastikas, Chokecherry doesn’t feel like a racist place.
From "Linked" by Gordon Korman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
