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death squad

noun

any of various groups of assassins, especially in Central America, whose members murder political dissidents, petty criminals, etc., usually with the tacit approval of the government.

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Word History and Origins

Origin of death squad¹

First recorded in 1965–70

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Stewart, the group's leader, had told the officer that they needed to establish a "new einsatzgruppe" - a reference to Adolf Hitler's SS death squad.

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This, if true, had abandoned them to the death squads.

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His administration ultimately collapsed in a mire of scandals that ended with Fujimori in prison for embezzling government funds and maintaining extrajudicial death squads.

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The death squads were on the payroll of the police, if not actually being the police themselves.

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A chilling scene finds him testing the vision of a man identified as the leader of a village death squad.

From

death spiral death tax

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