gleichschaltung means the forced standardization of political and social institutions under an authoritarian regime, originally with reference to Nazi Germany. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “gleichschaltung” is a great word
GLEICHSCHALTUNG — [Noun] The forced standardization of political and social institutions under an authoritarian regime, originally with reference to Nazi Germany. Unadapted borrowing from German Gleichschaltung, a compound of gleich ("same, equal") and Schaltung ("switching, circuit, connection"), literally meaning "synchronisation" or "coordination." Unlike "coordination," which suggests a voluntary alignment, or "unification," which can describe a natural coming together, Gleichschaltung denotes the top-down imposition of a single, compulsory circuit. It is the subsuming of every youth group into the state's organization, the editorial line of every newspaper snapping into perfect alignment, and the local club's newsletter seamlessly transitioning from match results to party doctrine—the machinery of daily life being methodically rewired until only one switch turns everything on. It is the engineering of a nation's soul into a hum of perfect, dreadful unison.
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from German Gleichschaltung (“synchronisation”).
noun
- The forced standardization of political and social institutions under an authoritarian regime, originally with reference to Nazi Germany.“Far less identified with the party than the old Freikorps (anticommunist vigilante groups active just after World War I) mercenaries, the new element saw in the SS the true elite organization of the Nazi regime, and did not hesitate to attempt Gleichschaltungs within the Gleichschaltung, that is, to have the SS take over already Nazified organizations.”