blackshirt

2 synonyms for blackshirt, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.

Noun — A member of the Italian Fascist militia, so named for the black uniform they wore.

Synonyms

Less common

Still standard English, but they carry more weight.

fascist

Rare, literary or technical

Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.

squadrista

Synonyms by Meaning

1. noun historical

A member of the Italian Fascist militia, so named for the black uniform they wore.

“The blackshirts marched through Rome in support of Mussolini.”

squadrista

2. noun

A member of any fascist political party or movement.

“Local blackshirts held a rally in the town square.”

fascist

How to use blackshirt

The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.

Italian blackshirts a group of blackshirts blackshirt uniform blackshirt militia

The term is chiefly historical and usually appears in the plural.

Etymology

Blackshirt was formed in English by joining black and shirt. It was coined as a direct translation of the Italian phrase camicia nera, used for the black uniform shirts worn by Fascist Party militia.

Full origin of blackshirt →

Frequently asked questions

What does blackshirt mean?

Historically it named a uniformed member of the Italian Fascist Party's paramilitary wing, so called for the black shirts worn as a uniform. The word later widened to cover fascists generally.

Where does the word blackshirt come from?

It is an English compound of black and shirt, created as a calque of the Italian camicia nera, the term for the movement's black uniform shirt.

Is blackshirt still used today?

It is mainly a historical term for Mussolini-era Italian Fascist militia, though it is sometimes extended to describe fascists more broadly.

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Nearby words

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