human shield

English

Noun

human shield (plural human shields)

1. (military) Civilians which a military group has deliberately placed combat targets near to deter an enemy from attacking those targets.
2. (figurative, rhetoric) Third parties used cynically to divert attention away from accusations against oneself.
   • 2019 July 17, Talia Lavin, “When Non-Jews Wield Anti-Semitism as Political Shield”, in GQ‎^[1]:

     And after the past few days, in which a fleet of Republicans and the president himself have utilized Jews as human shields for racist rhetoric, the Jews are tired, tired, tired of being used as defenses against naked racism, tired of being used to justify conditions at detention camps. Just plain tired.

Hyponyms

• white shield

Translations

civilians placed in or around targets

• Afrikaans: menslik skild
• Arabic: دِرْع بَشَرِيّ m sg (dirʕ bašariyy), دُرُوع بَشَرِيَّة f pl (durūʕ bašariyya)
• Bulgarian: чове́шки щит m (čovéški štit)
• Catalan: escut humà m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 人盾 (zh) (réndùn), 人體盾牌／人体盾牌 (réntǐ dùnpái)

• Danish: menneskeskjold n
• Dutch: menselijk schild n
• Finnish: ihmiskilpi (fi)
• French: bouclier humain (fr) m
• Galician: escudo humano m
• German: menschlicher Schutzschild (de) m
• Greek: ανθρώπινη ασπίδα (anthrópini aspída)
• Hungarian: élő pajzs
• Indonesian: perisai manusia
• Italian: scudo umano m
• Japanese: 人間の盾 (にんげんのたて, ningen no tate)
• Lower Sorbian: luźecy šćit m
• Norwegian: menneskelig skjold
• Polish: ludzka tarcza f
• Portuguese: escudo humano m
• Romanian: scut uman
• Russian: живо́й щит m (živój ščit), челове́ческий щит m (čelovéčeskij ščit)
• Slovak: ľudský štít m
• Slovene: človeški ščit m
• Spanish: escudo humano m
• Swedish: mänsklig sköld
• Ukrainian: живи́й щит m (žyvýj ščyt), людськи́й щит m (ljudsʹkýj ščyt)