Meanings
plural ratissages
- A raid (especially violent) carried out by the police or military, originally and chiefly carried out by the French in Algeria. and, prior to that, by the Milice (Vichy Government counter-terror police) in 1943-44.First known use 1950s
The army […] subjected suspect Muslim villages to systematic ratissage – literally a ‘raking-over’, a time-honoured word for ‘pacifying’ operations.
1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 261 more example
A second group of security men had appeared from within the museum, and lashed out with their clubs like warriors in a battle scene from a Kurasawa epic. […] ‘It's another ratissage. A special action.’
2000, JG Ballard, Super-Cannes, Fourth Estate, published 2011, page 220 - economicsA monetary device whereby national reserves are temporarily given up to a central bank.First known use 1950s
Origin
- Frenchratissage
- Englishratissage
From French ratissage, from ratisser (“to rake”).
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
ratissage. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ratissage
“ratissage.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ratissage. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ratissage,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ratissage.
Source: ratissage on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.