A person who uses violence and intimidation against civilians to achieve political goals.
From Latin terror meaning 'great fear, dread,' plus the suffix -ist. First used during the French Revolution's Reign of Terror (1793-1794) to describe state agents who used fear as a political tool. The meaning later expanded to non-state actors.
Interestingly, 'terrorist' was originally a positive term used by French revolutionaries to describe themselves - they proudly terrorized enemies of the people. The word's transformation into purely negative connotations reflects how political language evolves with historical perspective and changing power structures.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.