In 1944, the acclaimed English writer George Orwell had this to say about the term's overuse as an epithet; "It will be seen that, as used, the word "Fascism" is almost entirely meaningless. In conversation, of course, it is used even more wildly than in print. I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox-hunting, bull-fighting, the 1922 committee, the 1941 committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chaing Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley's broadcasts, Youth hostels, astrology, women, dogs and I do not know what else...the people who recklessly fling the word "Fascist" in every direction attach an emotional significance to it. By "Fascism", they mean, roughly speaking, something cruel, unscrupulous, arrogant, obscurantist, anti-liberal and anti-working class. Except for the relatively small number of Fascist sympathizers, almost any English person would accept 'bully' as a synonym for "Fascist". That is about as near to a definition as this much-abused word has come.

In 2004, Samantha Power, lecturer at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University) reflected Orwell's words from 60 years prior when she stated: "Fascism – unlike communism, socialism, capitalism, or conservatism – is a smear word more often used to brand one's foes than it is a descriptor used to shed light on them".