fascism
/ˈfæʃɪz(ə)m/ noun
Forms fascisms
- noun Any right-wing, authoritarian, nationalist ideology characterized by centralized, totalitarian governance, strong regimentation of the economy and society, and repression of criticism or opposition.
- noun (strictest sense) The ideology and practice of the 20th-century Italian movement from which this name came.
- noun (loosely, by extension, derogatory) Any system of strong autocracy or oligarchy usually to the extent of bending and breaking the law, race-baiting, and/or violence against largely unarmed populations.
- noun (figurative, derogatory) Any extreme reliance on or enforcement of rules and regulations.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From Italian fascismo, from fascio (“fasces, bundle, group”) + -ismo (“-ism”) with direct reference to Benito Mussolini's fasci di combattimento ("fight clubs"), from Latin fasces, bundles of axes and rods carried before the magistrates of the ancient Roman Republic as representative of their power of life and death. Originally with exclusive reference to Fascist Italy which used the fasces as an emblem, later broadened to describe all of the Axis Powers of World War II, and subsequently used as a general term of opprobrium in English and international political discourse.
Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)
Ancient Greek -μός (-mós)
Ancient Greek -ῐσμός (-ĭsmós)bor.
Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “fascism”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details