isolationist

[ahy-suh-ley-shuh-nist, is-uh-]

noun

1. a person who favors or works for isolationism.

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of isolationists or isolationism.

   to be accused of isolationist sympathies.

Other Word Forms

• anti-isolationist noun
• unisolationist adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of isolationist¹

An Americanism dating back to 1860–65; isolation + -ist

Example Sentences

And even most isolationists applaud strong American action in the Western Hemisphere.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Deftly unraveling the tangled politics of the moment, Mr. Wallace vividly shows La Guardia juggling factions of fusionist Republicans, communists, interventionists, isolationists, Tammany pols and a rat’s nest of the city’s fierce ethnic rivalries.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

There’s no hypothetical version of global equilibrium in which the United States is simultaneously the dominant superpower and also an isolationist fortress-state with zero immigration.

Read more on Salon

Famous for its isolationist culture and strict immigration policies, the island nation has experienced a record surge in both tourists and foreign residents in recent years.

Read more on BBC

The possibility that he might draw the US into another foreign entanglement has pitted the isolationist and hawkish wings of his party bitterly against one another.

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Related Words

• rigid