Word.ws English Dictionary

ratissage

UK/ɹatɪˈsɑːʒ/

ratissage noun: a raid (especially violent) carried out by the police or military, originally and chiefly carried out by the French in Algeria. and, prior to that, by the Milice (Vichy Government counter-terror police) in 1943-44.

Noun

ratissage (plural ratissages)

  1. A raid (especially violent) carried out by the police or military, originally and chiefly carried out by the French in Algeria. and, prior to that, by the Milice (Vichy Government counter-terror police) in 1943-44.
    • The army […] subjected suspect Muslim villages to systematic ratissage – literally a ‘raking-over’, a time-honoured word for ‘pacifying’ operations.1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 26
    • A second group of security men had appeared from within the museum, and lashed out with their clubs like warriors in a battle scene from a Kurasawa epic. […] ‘It's another ratissage. A special action.’2000, JG Ballard, Super-Cannes, Fourth Estate, published 2011, page 220
  2. A monetary device whereby national reserves are temporarily given up to a central bank.

Forms of ratissage

pluralratissages

Origin of ratissage

From French ratissage, from ratisser (“to rake”).

Questions about ratissage

What does ratissage mean?
Ratissage means a raid (especially violent) carried out by the police or military, originally and chiefly carried out by the French in Algeria. and, prior to that, by the Milice (Vichy Government counter-terror police) in 1943-44.
What part of speech is ratissage?
Ratissage is a noun.
How do you pronounce ratissage?
Ratissage is pronounced /ɹatɪˈsɑːʒ/ (UK).
What is the plural of ratissage?
The plural of ratissage is ratissages.

Words near ratissage in the dictionary

  1. rationment
  2. rations
  3. ratios
  4. ratis
  5. Ratisbon
  6. ratissage
  7. ratissages
  8. ratitate
  9. ratite
  10. ratites
  11. ratiuncule

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ratissage (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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