Meanings
plural fifth columnists
- someone who belongs to a group that secretly undermines another organization
1 more example
In both cases audiences can listen to the characters and actually hear them simply because both characters are not who they seem to be; they are fifth column-ists, interlopers in the battlefield of sexual politics. If a homosexual character or a real woman gave the speeches that Andrews and Hoffman gave they would be written off as crackpots by the movie-going public.
1983 February 12, Michael Bronski, “Tootsie and the Gender Benders”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 29, page 14
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna member of a clandestine subversive organization who tries to help a potential invader
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Catalan quintacolumnista
- quintacolumnistaa member of a fifth column
Danish femtekolonnemand
- femtekolonnemanda member of a fifth column
Finnish viideskolonnalainen
- viideskolonnalainena member of a fifth column
Norwegian Bokmål femtekolonnist
- femtekolonnista member of a fifth column
Polish piątokolumnista, piątokolumnistka
- piątokolumnistaa member of a fifth column
- piątokolumnistkaa member of a fifth column
Portuguese quinta-colunista
- quinta-colunistaa member of a fifth column
Swedish femtekolonnare, quisling
- femtekolonnarea member of a fifth column
- quislinga member of a fifth column
- kollaboratöra member of a fifth column
Cite this entry
fifth columnist. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fifth%20columnist
“fifth columnist.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fifth%20columnist. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fifth columnist,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fifth%20columnist.
Source: fifth columnist on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.