brownshirt

noun

brown·​shirt ˈbrau̇n-ˌshərt 

variants or Brownshirt

: nazi

especially : storm trooper

Examples of brownshirt in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In short, extreme violence against Jews would no longer be left to the Nazi brownshirts. — Michael Scott Bryant, The Conversation, 2 Nov. 2023

So too Lewis Milestone’s 1930 All Quiet on the Western Front (#45), at least in Germany, where the movie’s antiwar message caused Nazi brownshirts to disrupt screenings and attack movie patrons. — J. Hoberman, The New Republic, 22 June 2023

Some elements of the Wolfe collection have already been sold, but the remaining items up for auction Saturday include Hitler’s uniform visor hat, a brownshirt uniform and several medals, including an Iron Cross, Gottlieb said. — Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Sep. 2019

Words, as the historian Thucydides warned 2,400 years ago, habitually change their meanings to reflect passing political orthodoxy — and thugs, commissars, and brownshirts oversee the charade. — Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, 31 Aug. 2017

Security forces and brownshirts, working together to crush dissent with brutal violence. — Jack Holmes, Esquire, 17 May 2017

This is a particularly strange move for someone said to be a modern brownshirt/fascist/crypto-Nazi. — William McGurn, WSJ, 23 Jan. 2017

To the top left, a cake version of every brownshirt’s favorite space ship, Serenity, followed by a Yellow Submarine that is just far too beautiful to eat. — John Brownlee, WIRED, 10 Jan. 2007

Word History

First Known Use

1932, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for brownshirt

• alert
• assert
• avert
• dessert
• divert
• evert
• exert
• inert
• insert
• invert
• nightshirt
• overt