Added 8 October 2026
fascism
/ˈfæʃɪz(ə)m/ noun
In Latin: fascismus Wiktionary
noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about fascism at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
- A political theory advocating an authoritarian hierarchical government (as opposed to democracy or liberalism).
Origin
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.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)