Gestapo

[ guh-stah-poh; German guh-shtah-poh ]

noun
  1. the German state secret police during the Nazi regime, organized in 1933 and notorious for its brutal methods and operations.

adjective
  1. (sometimes lowercase) of or resembling the Nazi Gestapo, especially in the brutal suppression of opposition: The new regime is using gestapo tactics.

Origin of Gestapo

1
<German Ge(heime) Sta(ats)po(lizei)

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British Dictionary definitions for Gestapo

Gestapo

/ (ɡɛˈstɑːpəʊ, German ɡeˈʃtaːpo) /


noun
  1. the secret state police in Nazi Germany, noted for its brutal methods of interrogation

Origin of Gestapo

1
from German Ge (heime) Sta (ats) po (lizei), literally: secret state police

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Gestapo

Gestapo

[ (guh-stah-poh, guh-shtah-poh) ]


The secret police of the Third Reich in Germany. The Gestapo operated against Germans suspected of treason by using brutal interrogation and torture; they instilled widespread fear by their terrorist methods.

Notes for Gestapo

“Gestapo tactics” in general are intimidating official procedures.

Notes for Gestapo

Figuratively, any brutal secret police organization may be called a “gestapo.”

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.