leftist
Americannoun
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leftists
plural
adjective
adjective
noun
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Etymology
Origin of leftist
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How does leftist compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
In politics, a leftist is someone who tends to support progressive or socialist ideas. Leftists generally favor bigger government and policies that result in economic and social equality. This political term, in use since the late 19th century, is from left, a word that came to mean "the democratic or liberal party." This meaning goes back to the seating arrangement of legislators in the Estates General during the French Revolution: those seated on the left supported the revolution, and came to be called la gauche, or "the left." Leftists is just another way to describe anyone with progressive or liberal political beliefs.
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:
Spain’s leftist governing party oversaw passage of a new policy that allows some unauthorized migrants to apply for legal status, bringing them formally into the workforce of an aging nation.
From Slate ● Jul. 31, 2026
That victory ousted dictator Anastasio Somoza and brought Ortega to power at the head of what was then a popular leftist movement.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
Around this time, the actress Olivia Wilde has said, Mr. Jagger was a sometime dinner guest at the Washington home where she grew up with her parents, the leftist journalists Andrew and Leslie Cockburn.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
Its leaders have tried to avoid openly escalating the conflict, framing leftist gains as local phenomena.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
A talented musician, he socialized with what he described as an “exciting group of leftist intellectuals and bon vivants” in San Francisco.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
At one end, are the modern-day “sewer socialists”—named for Milwaukee leftists who focused on incremental, pragmatic local governance in the early 1900s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
He assigned his student a scholarly monograph, “Alienation: Marx’s Conception of Man in a Capitalist Society,” to begin his long education in how leftists think.
From Salon ● Jan. 7, 2025
Sheinbaum earlier attended a memorial for Martínez, whom she lauded as an inspiration for generations of Mexican women and leftists.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2024
Ms. Sheinbaum’s parents were both leftists and involved in the sciences, and she was raised in a secular household in Mexico City in the 1960s and 70s, a time of considerable political agitation in Mexico.
From New York Times ● Jun. 3, 2024
Driving out the Turks to gain national independence in 1878 is remembered, as is the abortive uprising of the leftists against the government in September 1923.
From Area Handbook for Bulgaria by Baluyut, Violeta D.
Definitions 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.
