RAF

See also: raf, Raf, râf, räf, and raf-

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -æf, -ɛf

Proper noun

RAF

1. (military, aviation) Initialism of Royal Air Force, the British RAF.
2. (military, rare) Initialism of Russian Armed Forces. (To avoid confusing with the preceding sense, the Russian Armed Forces are more often abbreviated in other ways, like RuAF.)
   • 1998, Issues & Studies:

     This paper discusses ongoing military reforms in the Russian Armed Forces (RAF) and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and tries to determine […]

   • 2019 August 9, Yi Edward Yang, Challenges to China's Economic Statecraft: A Global Perspective, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 26:

     Russia's military intervention in the former Soviet states of Ukraine and Crimea and the Russian Armed Forces (RAF) display of military might […]

   • 2023 March 1, David Kuehn, Aurel Croissant, Routes to Reform: Civil-Military Relations and Democracy in the Third Wave, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 123:

     While the military was pulled into power conflicts between Gorbachev and his opponents inside the communist nomenclature in 1991, and between Yeltsin and the Duma in 1993, the Russian Armed Forces (RAF) did not develop an organizational […]

3. The German Rote Armee Fraktion (Red Army Faction).
4. (motor racing) Abbreviation of Russian Automobile Federation.
   1. The national identifier for Russians in international motorsport while Russia is under ban by the ruling of the Court of Arbitration for Sport supporting the ban enacted by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

      Coordinate terms: ROC, RPC, RHF

Derived terms

• (UK): RAFA

Related terms

• (UK): RFC, RNAS, FAA
• (UK): RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF

See also

• (Germany): Red Army Faction on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• 'arf, AFR, AFr., ARF, Afr., FAR, FRA, Fra, RFA, arf, far, fra

French

Alternative forms

• R.A.F.

Etymology

Initialism of rien à foutre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ.ʁa.ɛf/

Phrase

RAF

1. (vulgar) I don't give a fuck!

German

Etymology 1

Noun

RAF m

1. (historical, Nazism) Initialism of Reichsarbeitsführer.

See also

• RAD (= Reichsarbeitsdienst)

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɛʁ.aˈɛf/, (acronym) /ʁaf/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (acronym):

  (file)

• Homophone: raff (acronym)
• Members and supporters have almost invariably used the acronym pronunciation. Otherwise it is less frequent, but still common.

Proper noun

die RAF f (proper noun, usually definite, definite genitive der RAF)

1. (historical) Initialism of Rote Armee Fraktion (“Red Army Faction, German far-left terrorist organisation active 1970–1998”).
   • 2022 December 18, Kersten Augustin, “Razzien bei der Letzten Generation: Immer noch krasser”, in Die Tageszeitung: taz‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Vielleicht ist diese avantgardistische Vorstellung, dass eine Gruppe wild Entschlossener nur überzeugt genug vorangehen muss, damit viele folgen, die einzige ernstzunehmende Parallele zur RAF.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)