chauvinist

American  

[shoh-vuh-nist] / ˈʃoʊ və nɪst /

noun

• chauvinists
  plural

1. a person who is aggressively and blindly patriotic, especially one devoted to military glory.

2. a person who believes one gender is superior to the other, as a or a

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• chauvinistic
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• chauvinists
  plural

Etymology

Origin of chauvinist

First recorded in 1860–65; chauvin(ism) ( def. ) + -ist ( def. )

Compare meaning

How does chauvinist compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• chauvinist vs. misogynist

Explanation

A chauvinist is someone who blindly and enthusiastically believes in the superiority of his cause or people. If you grew up in New York and refuse to eat at any pizzeria beyond a five-mile radius of the Empire State Building, you could be described as a New York pizza chauvinist. The word chauvinist comes from Nicholas Chauvin, a French soldier — probably fictional — who was so devoted to Napoleon that he continued to zealously support the emperor even after Napoleon rejected him. The put-down “male chauvinist pig” describes a man who believes that women are not as intelligent or worthy of respect as men. Often when we hear the word chauvinist, we think of arrogant men.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

chauvinist chauvinists

Sacha Baron Cohen and Rosamund Pike star in a Netflix comedy about a corporate chauvinist who finds himself in a parallel universe—one in which the women are in charge.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

Even the morbidly chauvinist NME succumbed, calling Ditto "the coolest person in rock".

From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2024

But, more importantly, they are subversive — a powerful statement of noncompliance to chauvinist systems of control.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2024

Moayed recalled saying that he didn’t want to play Torvald as a “chest-out” chauvinist, someone who would physically threaten his wife.

From New York Times ● May 23, 2023

But this last alternative seems to me to be special pleading: I am, reluctantly, a self-confessed carbon chauvinist.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

They did this as a way to gain status from the dominant group and overcome oppression by acting like male chauvinists.

From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2024

This especially pleases Midwest chauvinists, who have had to contend with curdled despisers from — Et tu, Brute? — the Midwest.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 30, 2022

But for the most part, “The Silent Party” is a quietly intense drama, focusing closely on its heroine and the unbearable pressures of a life spent surrounded by hyper-controlling chauvinists.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2022

Against many chauvinists, Whyte was an early and fierce champion of the activist and author Jane Jacobs, who considered him one of her few friends in Manhattan.

From New York Times ● Jan. 12, 2022

But for the minority, which included both our pacifists and our chauvinists, it was either too much or too little.

From Before the War by Richard Burdon Haldane, Viscount Haldane

Related Words

• female chauvinist
• male chauvinist
• misogynist