Stasi
See also: stasi
English edit
Etymology edit
From German Stasi, abbreviation of Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (“Ministry for State Security”).
Pronunciation edit
Proper noun edit
Stasi
- (historical) The Ministry for State Security, secret police and intelligence organization of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).
Noun edit
Stasi (plural Stasi)
- (derogatory) People who engage in covert surveillence or similar activities associated with secret police.
- 2014 July 3, Daniel Ruth, “Taking a byte out of privacy”, in Danbury News Times[1]:
- The Facebook Stasi then surreptitiously monitored the subscribers' writing to note changes in vocabulary to indicate mood swings.
- (derogatory) A Nazi (“One who imposes one’s views on others; one who is considered unfairly oppressive or needlessly strict.”)
- 2015 January 1, James Bloodworth, “Katie Hopkins' views are now considered matters for law enforcement, and it is utterly terrifying”, in Independent[2]:
- All vile and grossly insensitive certainly; but on balance I think I’m more afraid of the Twitter Stasi and their increasingly zealous police enforcers.
- 2019 March 25, Douglas Patient, “Blonde who claims far-right websites are stealing her photos threatens legal action”, in Daily Star[3]:
- After the image was removed, Mr Harlass shared the image of the couple, writing: "Apparently the Facebook Stasi has removed this wonderful, pure picture."
- 2020 June 19, David Bernstein, “On Cancel Culture and Civil Liberties”, in The Volokh Conspiracy[4]:
- I suspect the vast majority of us, on all points of the political spectrum, don't want to live in a society where Twitter Stasi are constantly looking for wrongthink to report to one's employer […]
Translations edit
East German Ministry for State Security
Anagrams edit
German edit
Etymology edit
From Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (“Ministry for State Security”).
Pronunciation edit
Proper noun edit
die Stasi f (proper noun, usually definite, definite genitive der Stasi)
- Stasi
- Was der Staat heute über die Leute weiß, davon konnte die Stasi nur träumen.
- The Stasi could only have dreamt to know as much about people as the government does today.
Derived terms edit
Noun edit
Stasi f (genitive Stasi, plural Stasis)
- (derogatory) anyone seen as restraining freedom of opinion and speech
- Die Kommentar-Stasi hat meinen Beitrag gelöscht.
- The comment Stasi deleted my post.
- (derogatory) anyone seen as violating people's private sphere and/or engaged in excessive data collection
- Seit seiner Rente spielt mein Vater die Nachbarschaftsstasi.
- Since his retirement my father passes his time being the Stasi of the neighbourhood.
Further reading edit
- “Stasi” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- “Stasi” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
- “Stasi” in Duden online
- Stasi on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia de
Italian edit
Etymology 1 edit
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Proper noun edit
Stasi m or f by sense
- a surname
Etymology 2 edit
Proper noun edit
Stasi ?
- (historical) Stasi (the East German ministry of state security)