white terror

noun

Coordinated violence committed against (actual or imagined) socialists and their sympathizers.

Opposite

Meanings

white terror1

nounwhite terror (countable and uncountable, plural white terrors)

plural white terrors

  1. countableuncountablegovernmentCoordinated violence committed against (actual or imagined) socialists and their sympathizers.
    1 more example

    I looked out the window of the former Grand Hotel de Pekin and thought of the days before World War II when I waltzed there with assorted Nazi, fascist and Scandinavian diplomats. On the street the slow‐moving bicycles moved silently where once I listened to the shuffling pad‐pad of camels bringing coal from Mentoukou. On these streets on Dec. 9, 1935, desperate Peking students had declared war on all kinds of fascism (so had I) and marched to break the “white terror,” as they called it.

    1973 May 31, Nym Wales, “‘I Was Back in Peking’”, in The New York Times, sourced from MADISON, Conn., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 Nov 2024, page 41

    Antonyms: red terror

  2. Hong KongcountableuncountablegovernmentThe erosion of democratic freedoms under Chinese rule.

White Terror2

proper noun
  1. governmentAny one of several specific white terrors in history.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounCoordinated violence committed against (actual or imagined) socialists and their sympathizers.

Opposite

Origin

By analogy with red terror, with the "white" Thermidorian Reaction against the "red" reign of terror.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan terror blanc
  • terror blancviolence
Chinese Mandarin 白色恐怖
  • 白色恐怖 (báisè kǒngbù)violence
Finnish valkoinen terrori
  • valkoinen terroriviolence
French terreur blanche
  • terreur blancheviolence
Greek λευκή τρομοκρατία
  • λευκή τρομοκρατία (lefkí tromokratía)violence
Hungarian fehérterror
  • fehérterrorviolence
Italian terrore bianco
  • terrore biancoviolence
Japanese 白色テロ
  • 白色テロ (hakushoku tero)violence
Korean 백색 테러
  • 백색 테러 (baeksaek tereo)violence
Polish biały terror
  • biały terrorviolence
Portuguese terror branco
  • terror brancoviolence
Romanian teroare albă
  • teroare albăviolence
Spanish terror blanco
  • terror blancoviolence
Vietnamese khủng bố trắng
  • khủng bố trắngviolence
Cite this entry
APA

white terror. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/white%20terror

MLA

“white terror.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/white%20terror. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

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

Source: white terror on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.