terrorist
/ˈtɛɹəɹɪst/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.35 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A person, group, or organization that uses violent action, or the threat of violent action, to further political goals.
noun
An agent or partisan of the revolutionary tribunal during the Reign of Terror in France.
Example Sentences
- "Hooooly shit! That is terrible, because (1), he is not a terrorist, and (2), I do hope we have a better strategy for dealing with terrorists than flagging their credit reports and denying them their dream apartments! Hey, not in America! Not in America!"
- "2002 January 29, George Walker Bush, "2002 State of the Union Address". States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world."
- "This controversy is quite similar to the red-tagging brouhaha exploded against me by Gabriela and its ilk in the CPP-NPA-NDF legal front. In a Facebook post, I had warned Liza Soberano of the deceptive tactics of the group in recruiting showbiz icons into the communist terrorist insurgency. I was very specific in that post, saying the advice is being issued by a father, a brother or an uncle not wanting to have his daughter, sister or niece led down the road to perdition. The seeming mouthpieces of the CPP hiding in Rappler, Inquirer and Philippine Star suddenly had a heyday slamming me for allegedly red tagging the actress as well as Miss Universe Catriona Gray."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *tres- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *troséyeti Proto-Italic *trozeō Latin terreō Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *-ōs Proto-Italic *-ōs Latin -or Latin terrorbor. Old French terreur Middle French terreurbor. Middle English terrour English terror Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek -ῐστής (-ĭstḗs)bor. Latin -istader. Old French -istebor. Middle English -ist English -ist English terrorist From terror + -ist. In the historical sense, after French terroriste. First used in 1794 in the Courier and Evening Gazette.
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: terroriste