fifth column Hear it!

fifth column Definition

fifth column

noun

  1. those people in Madrid who aided the forces of Francisco Franco in his uprising against the Spanish republic (1936-39)
  2. any group of people who aid the enemy from within their own country

Etymology: first used by the Sp Nationalist General Mola (1936), who, besieging Madrid with four columns from the outside, boasted of having a “fifth column” within

fifth column Related Forms

fifth columnist noun

Browse dictionary entries near fifth column

  1. Fifth Amendment
  2. fifth
  3. fifteenth
  4. fifteen
  5. FIFO
  6. fife rail
  7. fife
  8. fiesta
  9. Fiesole
  10. fiery cross
  1. fifth columnist
  2. Fifth Republic
  3. fifth wheel
  4. fiftieth
  5. fifty
  6. fifty-fifty
  7. fig
  8. fig leaf
  9. fig marigold
  10. fig wasp