Jacobin

American  

[jak-uh-bin] / ˈdʒæk ə bɪn /

noun

1. (in the French Revolution) a member of a radical society or club of revolutionaries that promoted the Reign of Terror and other extreme measures, active chiefly from 1789 to 1794: so called from the Dominican convent in Paris, where they originally met.

2. an extreme radical, especially in politics.

3. a Dominican friar.

4. (lowercase) one of a fancy breed of domestic pigeons having neck feathers that hang over the head like a hood.

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Jacobin British  

/ ˈdʒækəbɪn /

noun

1. a member of the most radical club founded during the French Revolution, which overthrew the Girondists in 1793 and, led by Robespierre, instituted the Reign of Terror

2. a leftist or extreme political radical

3. a French Dominican friar

4. (sometimes not capital) a variety of fancy pigeon with a hood of feathers swept up over and around the head

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adjective

1. of, characteristic of, or relating to the Jacobins or their policies

Other Word Forms

• Jacobinic adjective
• Jacobinical adjective
• Jacobinically adverb
• Jacobinism noun

Etymology

Origin of Jacobin

1275–1325; Middle English Jacobin < Old French ( frere ) jacobin < Medieval Latin ( frater ) Jacōbinus. See Jacob, -in ¹

Example Sentences

In an article for the Times of India this month, Bhaskar Sunkara, founding editor of the American socialist magazine Jacobin, called Mr. Mamdani “the real deal—a Marxist by training and conviction.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 19, 2025

Jacobin editors, meanwhile, had a whole book ready to go for the occasion of Kissinger’s death.

From Slate • Dec. 1, 2023

At the same time, the strength of the Jacobin party was weakening.

From Science Daily • Sep. 18, 2023

In a 2020 essay that appeared in Jacobin, political scientist Douglas McAdam, who is one of the world's leading experts on social movements, described the moment:

From Salon • Jan. 24, 2023

This unfortunate youth, dull offspring of the stimulated lust of ages, was an apt pupil in the Jacobin theory of kingly authority.

From Caricature and Other Comic Art in all Times and many Lands. by Parton, James