Jacobin

[jak-uh-bin]

noun

1. (in the French Revolution) a member of a radical society or club of revolutionaries that promoted the Reign of Terror and other extreme measures, active chiefly from 1789 to 1794: so called from the Dominican convent in Paris, where they originally met.

2. an extreme radical, especially in politics.

3. a Dominican friar.

4. (lowercase),  one of a fancy breed of domestic pigeons having neck feathers that hang over the head like a hood.

Jacobin

/ ˈdʒækəbɪn /

noun

1. a member of the most radical club founded during the French Revolution, which overthrew the Girondists in 1793 and, led by Robespierre, instituted the Reign of Terror

2. a leftist or extreme political radical

3. a French Dominican friar

4. (sometimes not capital) a variety of fancy pigeon with a hood of feathers swept up over and around the head

adjective

1. of, characteristic of, or relating to the Jacobins or their policies

Other Word Forms

• Jacobinic adjective
• Jacobinical adjective
• Jacobinism noun
• Jacobinically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of Jacobin¹

1275–1325; Middle English Jacobin < Old French ( frere ) jacobin < Medieval Latin ( frater ) Jacōbinus. See Jacob, -in ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of Jacobin¹

C14: from Old French, from Medieval Latin Jacōbīnus, from Late Latin Jacōbus James; applied to the Dominicans, from the proximity of the church of St Jacques (St James) to their first convent in Paris; the political club originally met in the convent in 1789

Example Sentences

In an article for the Times of India this month, Bhaskar Sunkara, founding editor of the American socialist magazine Jacobin, called Mr. Mamdani “the real deal—a Marxist by training and conviction.”

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The term “Thermidorian,” central in the book, points to that period in the French Revolution following the toppling of the radical Jacobins.

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Supporters have cried foul, but there’s little indication that Mr. Mamdani has matured since his days as a dorm room Jacobin.

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Trying to gain a better perspective, I have repeatedly returned to physician Gabor Mate’s 2022 interview at Jacobin:

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In that respect, argues policy analyst Matt Bruenig in Jacobin, the Harris plan falls short by by funneling public money into the for-profit housing market, offering only temporary affordability to working and middle-class Americans.

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