fifth columnist

English

Etymology

From fifth column +‎ -ist.

Noun

fifth columnist (plural fifth columnists)

  1. someone who belongs to a group that secretly undermines another organization
    • 1983 February 12, Michael Bronski, “Tootsie and the Gender Benders”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 29, page 14:
      In both cases audiences can listen to the characters and actually hear them simply because both characters are not who they seem to be; they are fifth column-ists, interlopers in the battlefield of sexual politics. If a homosexual character or a real woman gave the speeches that Andrews and Hoffman gave they would be written off as crackpots by the movie-going public.

Translations

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