noun
adjective
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Etymology
Origin of extremist
Explanation
Nowadays, we tend to associate the word extremist with "terrorist," and use the two words almost interchangeably to define someone who holds radical political or religious views. An extremist can hold views on any subject: if you believe all little brothers should be banned from their siblings' rooms, or that anyone who roots for a different baseball team should be quarantined, then you, my friend, are an extremist. What tends to unite all extremists is their willingness to act, often violently, to realize their beliefs. Little brothers, watch out.
Vocabulary lists containing extremist
"Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
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Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
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President Obama's U.N. Address
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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:
The online investigation team at Bellingcat, who studied the group back in 2022, called it then a "vocal and vile online booster" of the Russian invasion, with a clear extremist far-right ideology.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
She said Eisenkot would likely enjoy Israeli public support for cracking down on extremist settlers, who have attacked Palestinians in the West Bank with virtual impunity.
From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026
Experts working for the UN Human Rights Council wrote in April that Mohammed had been receiving death threats and online abuse for years, which were "believed to come from extremist religious militia".
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
The pilot had been barred from flying at Oman Air over concerns that he harbored extremist ideology, The Wall Street Journal has reported.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
An extremist of a school he could not now be; but “it is not for nothing,” as he says, that he was trained in it.
From The Bridling of Pegasus Prose Papers on Poetry by Alfred Austin
He was flagged as a security threat in a secret French government database of people deemed to be extremists.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
Some extremists like to shout their most extreme views, while others express them in niche journals or in private, among well-heeled friends.
From Slate ● Nov. 3, 2026
“It’s not a place of extremists but people were really inflamed,” Sosnoff says, noting that some people were reluctant to speak on camera.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
She said this was "a hatred we must stand robustly against, and root out from its very foundations", which meant "taking on extremists and bearing down on those who seek to divide our communities".
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
Adams went to his grave claiming that these laws never enjoyed his support, that their chief sponsors were Federalist extremists in the Congress, and that he had signed them grudgingly and reluctantly.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
