défaitisme

Coined in 1915 by Russian writer Grigorij Aleksinskij as a calque of Russian пораженчество (poraženčestvo), also coined by him as a derivation of поразить (porazitʹ, “to strike, defeat”). By surface analysis, défaite (“defeat”) +‎ -isme (“-ism”).

• IPA^(key): /de.fɛ.tism/ ~ /de.fɛ.tizm/ ~ /de.fe.tism/ ~ /de.fe.tizm/

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défaitisme m (uncountable)

1. defeatism

• défaite
• défaitiste

• “défaitisme”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.