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:
In 2019, he assisted the campaigns of several leftist Peronist candidates in provincial races in Argentina, and later founded his own consultancy, Numen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
López Beltrán is the son of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the founder of the leftist ruling party Morena, and the powerful mentor of the current Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Mamdani offered an amiable leftist alternative to “making the trains run on time,” flexing state power to make life easier and more affordable for average citizens.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
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
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
In this ethos of supporting access to literature, especially for Black leftists, Noname began a book club in 2019.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 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 Violeta D. Baluyut
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.
