terrorism
/ˈtɛɹəɹɪzəm/
terrorism noun: the system of fear and intimidation put into place during the Reign of Terror in Revolutionary France around 1793-94. Also the deliberate misspelling of tourism.
Noun
terrorism (usually uncountable, plural terrorisms)
- The system of fear and intimidation put into place during the Reign of Terror in Revolutionary France around 1793-94.
- In England I was proscribed for having vindicated the French Revolution, and I have suffered a rigorous imprisonment in France for having pursued a similar mode of conduct. During the reign of terrorism, I was a close prisoner for eight long months, and remained so above three months after the era...1795 July 7, Thomas Paine, The Constitution Of 1795 (Speech in the French National Convention)
- The use of unlawful violence against people or property to achieve political objectives.
- The threat of terrorism to the British lies in the overreaction to it of British governments. Each one in turn clicks up the ratchet of surveillance, intrusion and security. Each one diminishes liberty. David Cameron insists that his latest communications data bill is "vital to counter terrorism"....2012 December 14, Simon Jenkins, “We mustn't overreact to North Korea boys' toys”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 2, page 23
- The use of intimidation or bullying tactics.
- We at the GCN Prisoner Project often get letters from prisoners who are being harassed (above and beyond the usual terrorism of the prison business) because of their being queer.1984 February 11, “GCN Gay And Lesbian Prisoner Project”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 29, page 2
Also used as
terrorism is also the deliberate misspelling of tourism.
terrorism meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
terrorism in Hindi
- use of terror as a means of coercion
- आतंकवाद ātaṅkvād, दहशतगर्दी dahśatgardī, दहशतंगेज़ dahaśtaṅgez
terrorism in Tamil
- use of terror as a means of coercion
- பயங்கரவாதம் payaṅkaravātam
terrorism in Marathi
- use of terror as a means of coercion
- दहशतवाद dahśatvād
terrorism in Urdu
- use of terror as a means of coercion
- دَہْشَت گَرْدی dahśat gardī, دَہْشَت پَسَنْدی dahśat pasandī
More languagesFewer languages
- terrorism in Bengali
- সন্ত্রাসবাদ śontrasbad
- terrorism in Telugu
- ఉగ్రవాదం ugravādaṁ
- terrorism in Malayalam
- ഭീകരവാദം bhīkaravādaṁ
- terrorism in Kannada
- ಆತಂಕವಾದ ātaṅkavāda, ಭಯೋತ್ಪಾದನೆ bhayōtpādane
- terrorism in Punjabi
- ਦਹਿਸ਼ਤਗਰਦੀ dahiśtagardī, ਦਹਿਸ਼ਤਵਾਦ dahiśtavād, ਆਤੰਕਵਾਦ ātaṅkvād
- terrorism in Gujarati
- આતંકવાદ ātaṅkvād
- terrorism in Sinhala
- ත්රස්තවාදය trastawādaya
- terrorism in Pashto
- ترهګري trahgari, تروريزم trorizǝm
- terrorism in Tagalog
- terorismo
- terrorism in Arabic
- إِرْهَاب ʔirhāb
- terrorism in Malay
- pengganasan, terorisme
- terrorism in Indonesian
- terorisme
- terrorism in Persian
- تِروریسْم terorism, تِروریزْم terorizm, اِرْعابْگری er'âbgari
- terrorism in Thai
- การก่อการร้าย gaan-gɔ̀ɔ-gaan-ráai
- terrorism in Vietnamese
- khủng bố, chính sách khủng bố, chủ nghĩa khủng bố
- terrorism in Myanmar
- အကြမ်းဖက်ဝါဒ a.kram:hpak-wada.
Examples of terrorism in a sentence
- During the reign of terrorism, I was a close prisoner for eight long months, and remained so above three months after the era of the tenth Thermidor.1795 July 7, Thomas Paine, The Constitution Of 1795 (Speech in the French National Convention):
- The threat of terrorism to the British lies in the overreaction to it of British governments.2012 December 14, Simon Jenkins, “We mustn't overreact to North Korea boys' toys”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 2, page 23:
Forms of terrorism
| plural | terrorisms |
|---|
Origin of terrorism
From French terrorisme, from terreur + -isme. By surface analysis, terror + -ism. The word first appears in English in 1795 in reference to the Jacobin radicals of France, who ruled during the Reign of Terror.
Words formed from terrorism
Phrases with terrorism
Questions about terrorism
- What does terrorism mean?
- Terrorism means the system of fear and intimidation put into place during the Reign of Terror in Revolutionary France around 1793-94.
- What is terrorism in Hindi?
- Terrorism in Hindi is आतंकवाद (ātaṅkvād), दहशतगर्दी (dahśatgardī), दहशतंगेज़ (dahaśtaṅgez). See Terrorism meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use terrorism in a sentence?
- During the reign of terrorism, I was a close prisoner for eight long months, and remained so above three months after the era of the tenth Thermidor.
- What part of speech is terrorism?
- Terrorism is a noun.
- How do you pronounce terrorism?
- Terrorism is pronounced /ˈtɛɹəɹɪzəm/.
- What is the plural of terrorism?
- The plural of terrorism is terrorisms.
Words near terrorism in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: terrorism (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-terrorism.ogg.
Cite this entry: “terrorism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/terrorism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.