regime change

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Source required for "widely believed": who?”) Widely believed to have been coined by U.S. President Bill Clinton and popularized by his Presidential successor George W. Bush in reference to the regime of Saddam Hussein. Use of the term dates back to 1925.

Pronunciation

Audio (Southern England): (file)

Noun

regime change (countable and uncountable, plural regime changes)

(politics, geopolitics) The overthrow of a government that is considered an illegitimate regime by means of an external force (especially military might), and its replacement with a new government according to the concept of political legitimacy promoted by that force.
Synonym: rollback

Coordinate term: colour revolution
(by extension) A radical change; a paradigm shift.
- 2026 June 13, Robert Armstrong, “AI is revolutionising the stock market”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 5:
  This week's SpaceX flotation is just the latest sign: we are facing regime change not just in technology, but in finance. In finance, the regime change begins with a handful of companies that have towered over stock markets for 20 years or more.

Derived terms

regime-change (verb)

Descendants

→ Persian: رژیم چنج

Translations

overthrow of a government

Albanian: please add this translation if you can
Arabic: تَغْيِير اَلْنِظَام (taḡyīr al-niẓām)
Armenian: իշխանափոխություն (hy) (išxanapʻoxutʻyun)
Belarusian: змена рэжыму (zmjena režymu)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 政權更迭 / 政权更迭 (zh) (zhèngquán gēngdié), 政權交替 / 政权交替 (zhèngquán jiāotì), 政權更換 / 政权更换 (zhèngquán gēnghuàn), 政權變動 / 政权变动 (zhèngquán biàndòng)
Danish: regimeskifte n
Dutch: regimeverandering f
Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
Estonian: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: vallanvaihto (fi), hallinnon vaihto, regiimin vaihto
French: changement de régime m
Georgian: რეჟიმის შეცვლა (režimis šecvla)
German: Regimewechsel (de) m, Regimeänderung f
Greek: αλλαγή καθεστώτος f (allagí kathestótos)
Hindi: शासन में परिवर्तन m (śāsan mẽ parivartan)
Hungarian: please add this translation if you can
Italian: cambiamento di regime m
Japanese: 政体の変更 (seitai no henkō), レジームチェンジ (rejīmu chenji)
Korean: 정권 교체 (jeonggwon'gyoche) (refers to any change in administration, whether peaceful, violent, etc.)
Persian: تغییر رژیم (taġyir-e režim), رژیم چنج (režim čenj)
Polish: transformacja ustrojowa f
Portuguese: mudança de regime f
Romanian: schimbare de regim f
Russian: сме́на режи́ма f (sména režíma)
Slovak: please add this translation if you can
Spanish: cambio de régimen m
Swedish: regimskifte (sv) n
Turkish: please add this translation if you can
Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
Vietnamese: việc lật đổ chế độ, sự thay đổi chế độ