Meanings
- NazismhistoricalThe night of November 9–10, 1938, when a state-organized night of terror was staged against Jews in Germany and Austria.
This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930; is its descendant “progressive” radicalism unthinkable now?
2014 January 24, Tom Perkins, “Progressive Kristallnacht Coming?”, in Wall Street Journal, →ISSN, archived from the original on 14 Mar 20162 more examples
The Kristallnacht was a monumental development in Nazi anti-Jewish policy for several reasons. It was the single instance of large-scale, public, and organized physical violence against Jews inside Germany before the Second World War.
2009, Alan E. Steinweis, Kristallnacht 1938, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 4Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a stinging rebuke of Donald Trump on Sunday, comparing the riot at the US Capitol which the president incited to Kristallnacht, the night in November 1938 when Nazi thugs attacked Jewish Germans and their property, a harbinger of horrors to come.
2021 January 10, Martin Pengelly, “Schwarzenegger rebukes Trump and compares Capitol riot to Kristallnacht”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 04 Jul 2021Synonyms: Night of Broken Glass
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe night of November 9–10, 1938, when a state-organized night of terror was staged against Jews in Germany and Austria.
Origin
- GermanKristallnacht“night of broken glass”
- EnglishKristallnacht
Unadapted borrowing from German Kristallnacht (“night of broken glass”, literally “crystal night”).
More words from German
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan nit dels vidres trencats
- nit dels vidres trencatsTranslations
Chinese Mandarin 水晶之夜, 碎玻璃之夜
- 水晶之夜 (Shuǐjīng zhī Yè)Translations
- 碎玻璃之夜 (Suìbōlí zhī Yè)Translations
French Nuit de Cristal
- Nuit de CristalTranslations
German Kristallnacht, Reichskristallnacht
- KristallnachtTranslations
- ReichskristallnachtTranslations
- ReichspogromnachtTranslations
Hindi क्रिस्टालनाख़्ट
- क्रिस्टालनाख़्ट (krisṭālnāxṭ)Translations
Japanese 水晶の夜
- 水晶の夜 (Suishō no Yoru)Translations
Polish noc kryształowa
- noc kryształowaTranslations
Portuguese Noite dos Cristais
- Noite dos CristaisTranslations
Russian Ночь разбитых витрин
- Ночь разбитых витрин (Nočʹ razbityx vitrin)Translations
Spanish noche de los cristales rotos, Kristallnacht
- noche de los cristales rotosTranslations
- KristallnachtTranslations
Cite this entry
Kristallnacht. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Kristallnacht
“Kristallnacht.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Kristallnacht. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Kristallnacht,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Kristallnacht.
Source: Kristallnacht on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.