enemies of the state
Declared political adversaries
Enemies of the state are people or groups a government considers threats to its authority, security, or interests.
The designation is often political—authoritarian regimes label dissidents, journalists, and opposition figures as enemies of the state to justify persecution: The regime declared pro-democracy activists enemies of the state.
The phrase carries sinister connotations of show trials and political purges.
- spiesSecret intelligence gatherers
- double agentsSpies betraying their employers
- sleeper cellsHidden agents awaiting orders
- activistsPeople working for causes
- smugglersIllegal goods transporters
radicals · saboteurs · revolutionaries · freedom fighters · extremists · traitors · dissidents · whistleblowers · subversives · propagandists · separatists · terrorists · insurgents · war criminals · protestors · political prisoners · foreign agents · reformists
- Soviet RepressionStalin, NKVD, gulag, gulags, Great Purge
enemies of the statepatriots
Devoted homeland supporters
loyalists · true believers · nationalists · party faithful · jingoists
enemies of the statenational heroes
Celebrated citizens of distinction
enemies of the statestate officials
Government position holders
civil servants · security forces · apparatchiks · party members · functionaries
enemies, enmity, state, states, stated, stating, statement, statehood, stateless