Related Searches
on Ask.com
fifth columnist - 2 dictionary results
fifth column
–noun
| 1. | a group of people who act traitorously and subversively out of a secret sympathy with an enemy of their country. |
| 2. | (originally) Franco sympathizers in Madrid during the Spanish Civil War: so called in allusion to a statement in 1936 that the insurgents had four columns marching on Madrid and a fifth column of sympathizers in the city ready to rise and betray it. |
Related forms:
fifth columnist, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source
|
Link To fifth columnist
| fifth column n. A clandestine subversive organization working within a country to further an invading enemy's military and political aims. [First applied in 1936 to rebel sympathizers inside Madrid when four columns of rebel troops were attacking that city.] fifth col'um·nism (kŏl'əm-nĭz'əm) n., fifth columnist n. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2009, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
