Godwin's law

proper noun

An adage that asserts that any Usenet discussion will eventually mention the Nazis or Adolf Hitler.

Meanings

Godwin's law1

proper noun

alternative Godwin's Law

  1. InternethumoroususuallyAn adage that asserts that any Usenet discussion will eventually mention the Nazis or Adolf Hitler.First known use 1990s

    His article urges people not to be “afraid” of being charged with confirming Godwin's law. But who would be afraid of that charge when you believe that the Nazi analogy is apt?

    2018, Scott F. Aikin, Robert B. Talisse, Why We Argue, Routledge, →ISBN
    1 more example

    The power to be a being of pure thought, the unlimited, unconstrained world of imagination, and we build a world of animated gifs, stupid sight gags, lame van-art avatars, stupid “playful” environments, and brain-dead flame wars augmented by animated emoticons that allowed participants to express their hackneyed ad hominems, concern-trollery, and Godwin's law violations through the media of cartoon animals and oversized genitals.

    2012, Cory Doctorow, Charles Stross, The Rapture of the Nerds, Tor Books, →ISBN, page 296
  2. InternethumoroususuallyAn adage that asserts that the first person in an argument (usually in an online comment thread or forum) to mention the Nazis or Adolf Hitler has lost.

Godwin's Law2

proper noun
  1. Alternative letter-case form of Godwin's law.

Origin

Named after American attorney and author Mike Godwin (1956–).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Godwin's law. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Godwin's%20law

MLA

“Godwin's law.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Godwin's%20law. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Godwin's law,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Godwin's%20law.

Source: Godwin's law on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.