A violent act to be carried out for religious and/or political reasons. The government usually uses terrorism to cause fear of the populace to take away civil liberties even create false terror or even fund certain radical terrorist factions to instigate terror attacks to create a panic atmosphere. Also the terrorism label gets applied to those that don't always agree with the policies of the government.
Fear creates more fear and causes people to agree to almost anything even policies declared immoral. Fear is the tool that radicals use to take over countries even violate the Constitution. The whole point of terrorism is to instigate fear and terror in the heart of the citizenry.
by uswgo September 17, 2011
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A synthesis of war and theater. Use of media sensationalization and redundancy combined with hostile tactics which generally violate all of the Geneva Conventions to instill fear among a given population.
Fox news always has a new terrorism "threat" we all have to look out for. The more stories about these "threats", the more the enemy wins. The media is the terrorist's stage.
by Endakol June 3, 2010
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U.S. foriegn policy. For some reason we American seem to think that terrorism was invented on Sept. 11th, but it has been business as usual for the U.S. government for the last century.
The war on terrorism will not be over until the U.S. becomes a third world country.
by Zak November 15, 2003
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The act of threatening someone with violence in order to obtain something or accomplish a goal.
Terrorism can be perfrom by anyone. For example threatening to punch a guy in the face if he doesn't give you five dollars count as terrorism, but don't tell Bush
by Tonio31 September 1, 2006
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word similar in meaning to the scally term devoed used to describe having something unfortunate or embarassing happen to them
"Ha you cock, u got terrored"
by lewis October 7, 2004
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Terrorism is unlawful use of violence or the threat of violence to attain goals that are religious, political, ideological, economic, etc. in nature to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of said goals.
One of the more obvious recent examples of this are the 9-11 atrocities. Another is the US-Contra war on Nicaragua. After the ICJ condemned the US for the "unlawful use of force", US Southern Command gave the contras (mostly former members of the Somoza regime) the first official orders to attack what they called "soft targets" (read undefended civilian targets). That's a textbook example of international terrorism. Even before the ICJ ruling, the contras were attacking civilians. The Contras were fighting to reverse the popular sandinista revolution. This is an example of the unlawful use of violence to attain goals that are political and ideological. Saddam Hussein's invasion is an example of international terrorism. CLinton's bombing of a Sudanese pharmaceutical plant is another. And we can go down the list. The point is that the US govt, and most other govts around the world use terror to get what they want. Clearly, overwhelmingly, terrorism is the weapon of the strong.
by Chadrock January 21, 2004
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