terrorism

terrorism

English

Etymology

From French terrorisme, from terreur +‎ -isme, equivalent to terror +‎ -ism.

The word first appears in English in 1795 in reference to the Jacobin radicals of France, who ruled during the Reign of Terror.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛɹəɹɪzəm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

terrorism (usually uncountable, plural terrorisms)

1. (historical) The system of fear and intimidation put into place during the Reign of Terror in Revolutionary France around 1793-94.
   • 1795 July 7, Thomas Paine, The Constitution Of 1795 (Speech in the French National Convention):

     In England I was proscribed for having vindicated the French Revolution, and I have suffered a rigorous imprisonment in France for having pursued a similar mode of conduct. During the reign of terrorism, I was a close prisoner for eight long months, and remained so above three months after the era of the tenth Thermidor.

2. The use of unlawful violence against people or property to achieve political objectives.
   • 2012 December 14, Simon Jenkins, “We mustn't overreact to North Korea boys' toys”, in The Guardian Weekly‎, volume 188, number 2, page 23:

     The threat of terrorism to the British lies in the overreaction to it of British governments. Each one in turn clicks up the ratchet of surveillance, intrusion and security. Each one diminishes liberty. David Cameron insists that his latest communications data bill is "vital to counter terrorism". Yet terror is mayhem. It is no threat to freedom. That threat is from counter-terror, from ministers capitulating to securocrats.

   1. (by extension) The use of intimidation or bullying tactics.

Hyponyms

• agroterrorism
• bioterrorism
• cyberterrorism
• domestic terrorism
• ecoterrorism
• electronic terrorism
• narcoterrorism

 

Derived terms

• antiterrorism
• terrorist
• counter-terrorism
• ecoterrorism
• narcoterrorism

Translations

use of terror as a means of coercion

Afrikaans: terrorisme Albanian: terrorizëm (sq) m Arabic: إِرْهَاب‎ m (ʾirhāb) Armenian: ահաբեկչություն (hy) (ahabekčʿutʿyun), տեռորիզմ (hy) (teṙorizm) Asturian: terrorismu m Azerbaijani: terrorizm Belarusian: тэрары́зм m (terarýzm), тэра́кт m (terákt) (terror act) Bengali: সন্ত্রাসবাদ (sôntrasôbad) Bulgarian: терори́зъм (bg) m (terorízǎm) Burmese: အကြမ်းဖက်ဝါဒ (a.kram:hpak-wada.) Catalan: terrorisme (ca) m Cebuano: terorismo Chechen: терроризм (terrorizm) Chinese: Mandarin: 恐怖主義／恐怖主义 (zh) (kǒngbùzhǔyì) Cornish: broweghereth f Czech: terorismus (cs) m Danish: terrorisme c Dutch: terrorisme (nl) n Esperanto: terorismo Estonian: terrorism (et) Finnish: terrorismi (fi) French: terrorisme (fr) m Galician: terrorismo (gl) m Georgian: ტერორიზმი (ṭerorizmi) German: Terrorismus (de) m Greek: τρομοκρατία (el) f (tromokratía) Gujarati: આતંકવાદ (ātaṅkvād) Hebrew: טֶרוֹר‎ (he) m (téror), טֶרוֹרִיזְם‎ m (terorizm) Hindi: आतंकवाद (hi) m (ātaṅkvād), दहशतगर्दी f (dahśatgardī), दहशतंगेज़ m (dahaśtaṅgez) Hungarian: terrorizmus (hu) Icelandic: hryðjuverk (is) n Ido: terorismo Indonesian: terorisme (id) Irish: sceimhlitheoireacht Italian: terrorismo (it) m Japanese: テロリズム (ja) (terorizumu), テロ (ja) (tero) Kannada: ಆತಂಕವಾದ (ātaṅkavāda), ಭಯೋತ್ಪಾದನೆ (bhayōtpādane) Kazakh: лаңкестік (lañkestık), терроризм (terrorizm) Khmer: ភេរវនិយម (pheirĕəʼvĕəʼniyum) Korean: 테러리즘 (ko) (tereorijeum), 테러 (ko) (tereo), 공포주의(恐怖主義) (gongpojuui), 테로 (tero) (North Korea) Kyrgyz: терроризм (terrorizm) Lao: ການກໍ່ການຮ້າຍ (kān kǭ kān hāi) Latin: tromocratia f Latvian: terorisms m Lithuanian: terorizmas m Luxembourgish: Terrorismus Macedonian: терори́зам m (terorízam) Malay: pengganasan, terorisme Malayalam: ഭീകരവാദം (bhīkaravādaṃ), തീവ്രവാദം (tīvravādaṃ, literally “extremism”) Marathi: दहशतवाद (dahśatvād) Mongolian: Cyrillic: терроризм (mn) (terrorizm), алан хядлага (alan xjadlaga) Norman: terreurisme m Norwegian: Bokmål: terrorisme (no) m Nynorsk: terrorisme m Pashto: ترهګري‎ f (trahgarí), تروريزم‎ m (trorízǝm) Persian: تروریسم‎ (fa) (terorism), تروریزم‎‎ (terorizm), ارعابگری‎ (fa) (er'âbgari) (rare) Polish: terroryzm (pl) m Portuguese: terrorismo (pt) m Punjabi: ਦਹਿਸ਼ਤਗਰਦੀ (dahiśtagardī) Romanian: terorism (ro) m Russian: террори́зм (ru) m (terrorízm), тера́кт (ru) m (terákt) (terror act), терро́р (ru) m (terrór) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: терорѝзам m Roman: terorìzam (sh) m Sinhalese: ත්‍රස්තවාදය (trastawādaya) Slovak: terorizem m Slovene: terorizem (sl) Spanish: terrorismo (es) m Swedish: terrorism (sv) c Tajik: терроризм (terrorizm) Tamil: பயங்கரவாதம் (ta) (payaṅkaravātam) Tatar: террорчылык (terrorçılıq) Telugu: ఉగ్రవాదం (te) (ugravādaṁ) Thai: การก่อการร้าย (gaan-gɔ̀ɔ-gaan-ráai) Turkish: terörizm (tr), yıldırıcılık Turkmen: terrorizm Ukrainian: терори́зм m (terorýzm), тера́кт m (terákt) (terror act) Urdu: دہشت گردی‎ f (dehśat gardī), دہشت پسندی‎ f (dehśat pasandī) Uyghur: تېررورلۇق‎ (tërrorluq) Uzbek: terrorizm (uz) Vietnamese: khủng bố (vi) (恐怖), chính sách khủng bố (政策恐怖), chủ nghĩa khủng bố (主義恐怖) Volapük: jekälim, jekidun, jekidunot, jeikareig (vo) Welsh: terfysgaeth (cy) f, brawychiaeth f Yiddish: טעראָריזם‎ m (terorizm)

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Swedish

Etymology

terror +‎ -ism

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

terrorism c

1. terrorism

Declension

Declension of terrorism
	Uncountable
	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	terrorism	terrorismen	—	—
Genitive	terrorisms	terrorismens	—	—

Derived terms

• kontraterrorism

Related terms

• terrorisera
• terrorist