jingoism
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of jingoism
Explanation
Jingoism is fanatical, over-the-top patriotism. If you refuse to eat, read, wear, or discuss anything that wasn't made in your own country, people might accuse you of jingoism. Jingoism comes from the word jingo, the nickname for a group of British people who always wanted to go to war to prove the superiority of Britain. Now we use jingoism for that kind of aggressive, chauvinistic behavior in any country, or for things intended to stir up war-thirst and blind patriotism. If you see a TV show tries to get viewers to support a military cause without a critical look at whether war is necessary, call it jingoism.
Vocabulary lists containing jingoism
Star-Spangled Vocabulary: Patriotic Words
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Power Suffix: -ism
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Vocabulary from texts about the 1963 March on Washington
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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.
Without resorting to jingoism or over-sentimentality, he began to write with increasing tenderness about his native country—its climate, its countryside, its particular temperament.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
The fear is patriotism will veer into jingoism in the galleries.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2025
I recommend reading the graphic novel series Three, which tells the story of Helot liberation and is a welcome corrective to the jingoism of 300.
From Slate ● Jan. 16, 2024
That lends more than a touch of jingoism to this otherwise amusing, mechanistic parlor trick, which builds to a surge of emotion that might make your heart sink or soar.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2023
These men, with no money in their pockets and no steady employment, but with voices, votes and newspaper organs, are susceptible to jingoism.
From American World Policies by Walter E. Weyl
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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.
