Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, a capitalist economy subject to stringent governmental controls, violent suppression of the opposition, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.
  • noun A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of government.
  • noun Oppressive, dictatorial control.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun a political theory advocating an authoritarian hierarchical government; -- opposed to democracy and liberalism.
  • noun an authoritarian system of government under absolute control of a single dictator, allowing no political opposition, forcibly suppressing dissent, and rigidly controlling most industrial and economic activities. Such regimes usually try to achieve popularity by a strongly nationalistic appeal, often mixed with racism.
  • noun Specifically, the Fascist movement led by Benito Mussolini in Italy from 1922 to 1943.
  • noun broadly, a tendency toward or support of a strongly authoritarian or dictatorial control of government or other organizations; -- often used pejoratively in this sense.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun historical A political regime, having totalitarian aspirations, ideologically based on a relationship between business and the centralized government, business-and-government control of the market place, repression of criticism or opposition, a leader cult and exalting the state and/or religion above individual rights. Originally only applied (usually capitalized) to Benito Mussolini's Italy.
  • noun By vague analogy, any system of strong autocracy or oligarchy usually to the extent of bending and breaking the law, race-baiting and violence against largely unarmed populations.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a political theory advocating an authoritarian hierarchical government (as opposed to democracy or liberalism)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Italian fascismo, from fascio, group, from Late Latin fascium, from Latin fascis, bundle.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Italian fascismo, from fascio ("bundle, fasces"), from Latin fasces, plural of fascis

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Examples

Comments

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  • (n) A collaboration between corporate and theocratic power to subvert democracy and exercise authoritarian control.

    October 4, 2008

  • No. Fascism favours state control of private enterprise, and is characterised by extreme nationalism, not theism. Also, there is no suggestion of subverting democracy or any political model in particular.

    If you're going to leave definitions of words anyone can find in an online dictionary, please at least make sure they're more or less correct!

    October 4, 2008

  • A system of authoritarian government where the means of production are permitted to be privately held, but the use and/or right to ownership is contingent upon the directives of the government.

    March 31, 2009

  • So basically the Democratic party...

    September 9, 2022