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expansionist

American  
[ik-span-shuhn-ist] / ɪkˈspæn ʃən ɪst /

noun

  1. someone who advocates a policy of expansion of territory, currency, political influence, or other forms of power.


adjective

  1. relating to, advocating, or arising from a policy of expansion of territory, currency, political influence, or other forms of power.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said over the weekend that Mr. Putin harbors expansionist ambitions akin to the Nazis after absorbing the Sudetenland in 1938.

From The Wall Street Journal Dec. 16, 2025

Washington turned out to be the ideal radical expansionist to follow in Boulez’s footsteps for the new LACMA, with a resplendent enlargement of his 2018 half-hour EP, “Harmony of Difference.”

From Los Angeles Times Jun. 28, 2025

They might look to King Charles as their head of state, and head of the Commonwealth too, to strongly speak up for them and to rebuff such expansionist claims from the US president.

From BBC Mar. 3, 2025

It had long been fighting expansionist wars, extending the kingdom to include more and more of East Africa.

From BBC Feb. 21, 2025

The Olmec, he thought, were the Romans of Mesoamerica, a magisterial society that “established the pattern which, through the centuries, was to be followed by other expansionist Mesoamerican cultures.”

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

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