Standard Lemma guide

putsch

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /pʊt͡ʃ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Northern-Ireland, Scotland: /pʉt͡ʃ/
  • rhymes with -ʊtʃ
  • CMU ARPABET: P UH1 CH Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A coup d'état; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Afterward, the ringleaders of the failed putsch were publicly executed.
  • 2010, Thompson, M. 2010. Modernisation theory’s last redoubt: democratisation in east and south east Asia. In Yin-wah Chu and Siu-lun Wong (ed), 'East Asia's new democracies: deepening, reversal, non-liberal alternatives'. London, Routledge.p98. "They have broken the democratic rules of the game by supporting popular mobilisation that has resulted in what can be dubbed a "people power putsch"."

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: coup, coup d'état

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a sudden and decisive change of government illegally or by force

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: coup d'etat, coup, takeover

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: group action

Narrower terms: countercoup, Russian Revolution, October Revolution

History

Etymology

Borrowed from German Putsch, from Alemannic German Putsch (“knock, thrust, blow”), of imitative origin.

Across languages

Translations

55 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: اِنْقِلَاب (inqilāb) — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Armenian: պուտչ (putčʻ) — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Armenian: խռովարարություն (xṙovararutʻyun) — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Asturian: putsch — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Asturian: golpe d'estáu — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Asturian: alzamientu — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Belarusian: путч (putč) — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Belarusian: пераваро́т (pjeravarót) — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Bulgarian: пуч (puč) — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Catalan: cop d'estat — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Chinese Mandarin: 叛亂 /叛乱 (pànluàn) — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Chinese Mandarin: 政變 /政变 (zhèngbiàn) — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Czech: puč — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Esperanto: puĉo — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Esperanto: ŝtatrenverso — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Estonian: putš — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Finnish: vallankaappaus — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • French: coup d'État — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • French: putsch — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Georgian: პუტჩი (ṗuṭči) — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • German: Putsch — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Greek: πραξικόπημα (praxikópima) — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Hebrew: פּוּטְשׁ (putsh) — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Hungarian: puccs — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Latvian: pučs — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Lithuanian: pučas — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Macedonian: пуч (puč) — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Māori: upokotaua — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Polish: pucz — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Portuguese: putsch — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Portuguese: golpe de estado — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Portuguese: golpe — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Romanian: puci — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Romanian: lovitură de stat — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Russian: путч (putč) — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Russian: переворо́т (perevorót) — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Serbo-Croatian: пре̏вра̄т — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Serbo-Croatian: пу̏ч — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Serbo-Croatian: др̀жа̄внӣ у̏да̄р — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Serbo-Croatian: prȅvrāt — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Serbo-Croatian: pȕč — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Serbo-Croatian: dr̀žāvnī ȕdār — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Slovak: puč — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Slovene: puč — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Spanish: putsch — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Spanish: alzamiento — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Spanish: pronunciamiento — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Spanish: golpe — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Spanish: militarada — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Swedish: statskupp — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Turkish: darbe — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Ukrainian: путч (putč) — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Ukrainian: переворо́т (perevorót) — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Volapük: luvolut — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
  • Yiddish: ּפּוטש — a coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government