death squad

noun

: any of various extremist groups whose members kill suspected political adversaries and criminals

Examples of death squad in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Across the hemisphere, democracy was under assault and military governments and death squads waged dirty wars on civil society. Nara Milanich, Foreign Affairs, 24 June 2022 This, in turn, exposed many clergy to political persecution, including Óscar Romero, the Salvadoran priest murdered by a right-wing death squad in 1980. Omar G. Encarnación, Time, 22 Apr. 2025 Correa is accused of participating in beatings, electrocutions and other forms of abuses while allegedly acting as part of a death squad operating under former Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh. Gordon G. Chang, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Apr. 2025 Moreover, this spring, the prosecutor’s office in Tver ordered the removal of memorial plaques from a building in whose basement Stalin’s death squads had executed more than 6,000 Poles. Andrei Kolesnikov, Foreign Affairs, 29 Oct. 2020 See All Example Sentences for death squad

Word History

First Known Use

1873, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of death squad was in 1873

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Cite this Entry

“Death squad.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/death%20squad. Accessed 6 Jun. 2025.

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