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Fifth column

noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A group of people which clandestinely undermines a larger group, such as a nation, to which it is expected to be loyal.

    "The rebels, who in November 1936 had fought to enter and failed, walked in yesterday as troops of the generally recognised Spanish Government, and not a shot was fired at them. The supporters of Franco in the city, the “fifth column” he once spoke of, had been waiting for this moment for more than two years."

  2. 2
    a subversive group that supports the enemy and engages in espionage or sabotage; an enemy in your midst wordnet
  3. 3
    Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see fifth, column.

Etymology

From a 1936 radio address by Spanish Nationalist general Emilio Mola, in which he spoke of four of his army columns moving on Madrid and a fifth column (quinta columna) consisting of his militant supporters within the capital, intent on undermining the Republican government from within.

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