English

Proper noun

Lebensraum

1. (in German historical from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth Centuries) Territories considered appropriate for German annexation, regarded as vital for the natural flourishing of the German race:
   1. (in early usage) an empire in the form of overseas colonies, in imitation of contemporary powers such as Britain and France.
   2. (in later usage, Nazism) a Großdeutschland obtained through Endoeuropean expansion, usually with a focus upon Drang nach Osten, and varying in its scope from the comparatively modest annexation of the Polish Border Strip to overlordship of the European continent by the conquest of Russian lands as far as the Urals.

Derived terms

• lebensraum

Related terms

References

• “‖lebensraum” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2^nd Ed.; 1989]

Anagrams

• mensurable

German

Etymology

Leben ‎(“life”) +‎ Raum ‎(“space”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈleːbm̩sˌʀaʊ̯m/, /ˈleːbənsˌʀaʊ̯m/

Noun

Lebensraum m ‎(genitive Lebensraums or Lebensraumes, plural Lebensräume)

1. living space
2. habitat
3. lebensraum

Declension

Descendants

• English: Lebensraum

Portuguese

Proper noun

Lebensraum m

1. (historical) Lebensraum (territories regarded as vital for the flourishing of the German race)

English

Alternative forms

• Often spelt with an initial capital, following German grammar in capitalising common nouns.

Noun

lebensraum ‎(plural lebensräume)

1. (chiefly with reference to nations and peoples) Hitherto unoccupied “living space” claimed as one’s rightful domain.
   • 1949: Annals of the Association of American Geographers, volumes 39–40, page 115 (self-published)

     Geographers accepted this enlarged meaning of the term and spoke readily of geographical Räume and Lebensräume of peoples, even in cases where no real three-dimensional distribution was implied.

   • 2010 (March 24th, 4:00pm): Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, “Battlefield: Bad Company 2” reviewed by Zero Punctuation, 2:48–3:05

     Even when there aren’t any explosions going on, when you’re scanning a distant compound with your sniper rifle, trying to decide which soldier would be the best one to kill first, before every enemy in a two-mile radius deduces your exact position like a vodka-drinking sextant, everything from a certain distance disappears into this weird glowing haze, like the Russians are occupying the surface of Mercury — which is beyond even the most liberal interpretation of lebensraum.

Translations

See also

• manifest destiny
• expansionism

Anagrams

• mensurable