politically incorrect

American  

[puh-lit-ik-lee in-kuh-rekt] / pəˈlɪt ɪk li ˌɪn kəˈrɛkt /

adjective

1. not politically correct; potentially offensive to a particular group of people.

   politically incorrect jokes.

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Other Word Forms

• political incorrectness noun

Etymology

Origin of politically incorrect

1875–80 (in the sense “mocking convention”); 1975–80 for the more recent meaning, which evolved from earlier Communist uses in the 1920s

Example Sentences

“For even longer, Bill has been influencing American discourse — one politically incorrect joke at a time.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026

Greg, clueless about just how politically incorrect he can be without even trying, gets chastised several times, though the circumstances are deliberately exaggerated.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 5, 2026

Its editors are proudly politically incorrect, and some articles seem rather, well, dated.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 29, 2024

At the time Humphries used Edna, a dull housewife with decidedly politically incorrect views on foreigners, as a satire on his experience of growing up in the conservative suburbs of Melbourne.

From BBC • Apr. 22, 2023

His irreverent Pop-inflected style pitted the history of painting against an unsettling, sometimes politically incorrect commentary on race in America.

From New York Times • Dec. 7, 2022