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expansionist

American

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

noun

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

adjective

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

Example Sentences

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See Examples For:

expansionist

This expansionist push brought these cultures into new confluence and conflict.

From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026

The richest cache, in Kolkata's National Library, consists of 21 volumes devoted to the reign of Aurangzeb, who ruled the Mughal empire from 1658 to 1707 and was its last great expansionist emperor.

From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026

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

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

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023