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.

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adjective

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

Example Sentences

She was referring to the 1846-48 Mexican-American War, now widely seen as a U.S. expansionist gambit in the era of Manifest Destiny.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 18, 2025

Though he handles the science of memory deftly, in the few spots where he dwells on it, his view of memory is an expansionist one incorporating concepts of immortality as much as neural integrity.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 17, 2025

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

From BBC • Feb. 21, 2025

He explicitly cited “manifest destiny” in describing his expansionist ambitions for taking control of the Panama Canal and colonizing Mars.

From Slate • Jan. 20, 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