terrorist

T1E1R1R1O1R1I1S1T1
/ˈtʰɛɹəɹɪst/

noun

A person, group, or organization that uses violent action, or the threat of violent action, to further political goals.

OriginEnglish terror ← Middle English terrour ← Middle French terreur →
CommonScrabble 9
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Meanings

nounterrorist (plural terrorists)

plural terrorists

  1. A person, group, or organization that uses violent action, or the threat of violent action, to further political goals.

    Hooooly shit! That is terrible, because (1), he is not a terrorist, and (2), I do hope we have a better strategy for dealing with terrorists than flagging their credit reports and denying them their dream apartments! Hey, not in America! Not in America!

    2016 April 10, “Credit Reports”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 8, John Oliver (actor), via HBO
  2. historicalAn agent or partisan of the revolutionary tribunal during the Reign of Terror in France.
  3. InternetdeliberatehumorousmisspellingDeliberate misspelling of tourist.
adjectiveterrorist (not comparable)
  1. not comparableOf or relating to terrorism.

    2002 January 29, George Walker Bush, "2002 State of the Union Address". States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.

    1 more example

    This controversy is quite similar to the red-tagging brouhaha exploded against me by Gabriela and its ilk in the CPP-NPA-NDF legal front. In a Facebook post, I had warned Liza Soberano of the deceptive tactics of the group in recruiting showbiz icons into the communist terrorist insurgency. I was very specific in that post, saying the advice is being issued by a father, a brother or an uncle not wanting to have his daughter, sister or niece led down the road to perdition. The seeming mouthpieces of the CPP hiding in Rappler, Inquirer and Philippine Star suddenly had a heyday slamming me for allegedly red tagging the actress as well as Miss Universe Catriona Gray.

    2021, Antonio Parlade Jr., “To catch a commie and friends by their mouths”, in The Manila Times

Synonyms & antonyms

Narrower
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Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*tres-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*troséyeti
  3. Proto-Italic*troseō
  4. Latinterreō
  5. Latinterror
  6. Old Frenchterreur
  7. Middle Frenchterreur
  8. Middle Englishterrour
  9. Englishterror
  10. Englishterrorist

From terror + -ist. In the historical sense, after French terroriste. First used in 1794 in the Courier and Evening Gazette.

More words from French

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans terroriste
  • terroristeperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Arabic إِرْهَابِيّ, إِرْهَابِيَّة
  • إِرْهَابِيّ (ʔirhābiyy)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • إِرْهَابِيَّة (ʔirhābiyya)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • إِرْهَابِيّ (ʔirhābiyy)of or relating to terrorism
Basque terrorista
  • terroristaperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Bengali সন্ত্রাসবাদী
  • সন্ত্রাসবাদী (śontrasbadi)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Bulgarian терори́ст, терори́стка
  • терори́ст (teroríst)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • терори́стка (terorístka)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • терористи́чен (teroristíčen)of or relating to terrorism
Catalan terrorista, terrorista
  • terroristaperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • terroristaof or relating to terrorism
Chinese Mandarin 恐怖分子, 恐怖份子
  • 恐怖分子 (kǒngbùfènzǐ)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • 恐怖份子 (kǒngbùfènzi)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • 恐怖主義者 /恐怖主义者 (kǒngbùzhǔyìzhě)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • 恐怖主義的 /恐怖主义的 (kǒngbùzhǔyì de)of or relating to terrorism
Czech terorista, teroristka
  • teroristaperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • teroristkaperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • teroristickýof or relating to terrorism
Danish terrorist, terroristisk
  • terroristperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • terroristiskof or relating to terrorism
Dutch terrorist, terroriste
  • terroristperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • terroristeperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • terreurplegerperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • terreurpleegsterperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • terroristischof or relating to terrorism
Esperanto teroristo
  • teroristoperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Estonian terrorist
  • terroristperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Finnish terroristi, terroristi-
  • terroristiperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • terroristi-of or relating to terrorism
  • terroristienof or relating to terrorism
  • terroristinenof or relating to terrorism
French terroriste
  • terroristeperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
German Terrorist, Terroristin
  • Terroristperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • Terroristinperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • terroristischof or relating to terrorism
  • terror-of or relating to terrorism
Greek τρομοκράτης, τρομοκράτισσα
  • τρομοκράτης (tromokrátis)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • τρομοκράτισσα (tromokrátissa)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • τρομοκρατικός (tromokratikós)of or relating to terrorism
Hebrew טֶרוֹרִיסְט, מְחַבֵּל
  • טֶרוֹרִיסְט (teroríst)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • מְחַבֵּל (m'khabél)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Hindi आतंकवादी, दहशतनाक
  • आतंकवादी (ātaṅkvādī)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • दहशतनाक (dahśatnāk)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Hungarian terrorista, terrorista
  • terroristaperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • terroristaof or relating to terrorism
Icelandic hryðjuverkamaður
  • hryðjuverkamaðurperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Indonesian teroris, penggentar
  • terorisperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • penggentarperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Irish sceimhlitheoir
  • sceimhlitheoirperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Italian terrorista
  • terroristaperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Japanese テロリスト, テロ
  • テロリスト (terorisuto)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • テロ (tero)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Korean 테러리스트, 테로분자
  • 테러리스트 (tereoriseuteu)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • 테로분자 (terobunja)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • 테러범 (tereobeom)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Latin terrorista
  • terroristaperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Latvian terorists, teroriste
  • teroristsperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • teroristeperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Lithuanian teroristas, teroristė
  • teroristasperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • teroristėperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Malay pengganas
  • pengganasperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Māori kaiwhakatuma, kaiwhakarekereke
  • kaiwhakatumaperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • kaiwhakarekerekeperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Norwegian Bokmål terrorist, terroristisk
  • terroristperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • terroristiskof or relating to terrorism
Persian تِروریسْت, تروریست
  • تِروریسْت (terorist)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • تروریستof or relating to terrorism
Polish terrorysta, terrorystka
  • terrorystaperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • terrorystkaperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • terrorystycznyof or relating to terrorism
Portuguese terrorista, terrorista
  • terroristaperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • terroristaof or relating to terrorism
Punjabi ਅੱਤਵਾਦੀ
  • ਅੱਤਵਾਦੀ (attavādī)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Romanian terorist, teroristă
  • teroristperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • teroristăperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • teroristof or relating to terrorism
Russian террори́ст, террори́стка
  • террори́ст (terroríst)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • террори́стка (terrorístka)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • террористи́ческий (terroristíčeskij)of or relating to terrorism
Scottish Gaelic ceannairceach, ceannairceach
  • ceannairceachperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • ceannairceachof or relating to terrorism
Slovak terorista, teroristka
  • teroristaperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • teroristkaperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • teroristickýof or relating to terrorism
Spanish terrorista, terrorista
  • terroristaperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • terroristaof or relating to terrorism
Swahili ugaidi
  • ugaidiof or relating to terrorism
Swedish terrorist, terroristisk
  • terroristperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • terroristiskof or relating to terrorism
Tagalog terorista
  • teroristaperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Tamil தீவிரவாதி, பயங்கரவாதி
  • தீவிரவாதி (tīviravāti)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • பயங்கரவாதி (payaṅkaravāti)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Thai ผู้ก่อการร้าย
  • ผู้ก่อการร้าย (pûu-gɔ̀ɔ-gaan-ráai)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Turkish terörist, yıldırıcı
  • teröristperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • yıldırıcıperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Ukrainian терори́ст, терори́ст
  • терори́ст (terorýst)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • терори́ст (terorýst)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • терористи́чний (terorystýčnyj)of or relating to terrorism
Urdu دَہْشَت گَرْد, دَہْشَت پَسَنْد
  • دَہْشَت گَرْد (dahśat gard)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • دَہْشَت پَسَنْد (dahśat pasand)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • آتَنْکوادی (ātankvādī)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • تَخْوِیف پَسَنْد (taxvīf pasand)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Vietnamese người khủng bố, tên khủng bố
  • người khủng bốperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • tên khủng bốperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • kẻ khủng bốperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • khủng bốof or relating to terrorism
Welsh terfysgwr, brawychwr
  • terfysgwrperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
  • brawychwrperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Yiddish טעראָריסט
  • טעראָריסט (terorist)person who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Zulu amaphekula
  • amaphekulaperson who uses terror as a weapon in a political struggle
Cite this entry
APA

terrorist. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/terrorist

MLA

“terrorist.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/terrorist. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “terrorist,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/terrorist.

Source: terrorist on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.