Stasi en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈʃtɑːzi/
- /ˈstɑːzi/
Etymology
From German Stasi, abbreviation of Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (“Ministry for State Security”).
Meanings
-
(derogatory) One who engages in covert surveillence or similar activities associated with secret police.
The Facebook Stasi then surreptitiously monitored the subscribers' writing to note changes in vocabulary to indicate mood swings.
2014 July 3, Daniel Ruth, “Taking a byte out of privacy”, in Danbury News Times:
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(derogatory) One who imposes one's views on others; one who is unfairly oppressive or needlessly strict.
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[…]
2020 June 19, David Bernstein, “On Cancel Culture and Civil Liberties”, in The Volokh Conspiracy:After the image was removed, Mr Harlass shared the image of the couple, writing: "Apparently the Facebook Stasi has removed this wonderful, pure picture."
2019 March 25, Douglas Patient, “Blonde who claims far-right websites are stealing her photos threatens legal action”, in Daily Star: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.
2015 January 1, James Bloodworth, “Katie Hopkins' views are now considered matters for law enforcement, and it is utterly terrifying”, in Independent:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stasi | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Synonyms
Translations (13)
be Шта́зі (East German Ministry for State Security) · ru Шта́зи (East German Ministry for State Security) · bg Ща́зи (East German Ministry for State Security) · cmn 斯塔西 (East German Ministry for State Security) · uk Шта́зі (East German Ministry for State Security) · mr श्टाझी (East German Ministry for State Security) · cmn 史塔西 (East German Ministry for State Security) · el Στάζι (East German Ministry for State Security) · fr Stasi (East German Ministry for State Security) · it Stasi (East German Ministry for State Security) · ko 슈타지 (East German Ministry for State Security) · ja シュタージ (East German Ministry for State Security) · de Stasi (East German Ministry for State Security)