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

On 20 September 1973, an estimated 90 million people around the world watched Billie Jean King beat self-proclaimed chauvinist Bobby Riggs in a best-of-five match at the Houston Astrodome.

From BBC ● Dec. 27, 2025

AP: A year later, you famously beat self-proclaimed chauvinist Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match viewed by millions on TV.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 23, 2022

The movie, a major sleeper in fourth place in its ninth week, will forever be remarkable for Bruce Willis’s hero journey from chauvinist cop to husband of the year.

From New York Times ● Oct. 2, 2020

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

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

It is perhaps worth mentioning here that, for Manhattan club chauvinists of the late ’70s, Brooklyn was less “downtown” than a world apart.

From New York Times ● Oct. 6, 2021

Ventimiglia has made a career out of playing chauvinists as romantics, the type of guy who loves you so much he has to boss you around.

From Slate ● Sep. 19, 2016

Even the base insinuations of the Anglo-French chauvinists to the secret compact between the Soviet Government and the Germans, might in case that treaty had been signed find credence in certain circles of European laborers.

From From October to Brest-Litovsk by Leon Davidovich Trotzky

Related Words

• female chauvinist
• male chauvinist
• misogynist