lunatic fringe

American  

noun

1. members on the periphery of any group, especially political, social, or religious, who hold extreme or fanatical views.

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lunatic fringe British  

noun

1. the members of a society or group who adopt or support views regarded as extreme or fanatical

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lunatic fringe Cultural  

1. Derogatory name for the extreme radical members of a group, especially in politics: “The candidate referred to the organization as being on the lunatic fringe of conservatism.” The term was coined by Theodore Roosevelt.

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Etymology

Origin of lunatic fringe

An Americanism dating back to 1910–15

Example Sentences

All that can be dismissed as the ravings of the lunatic fringe, but it is being taken seriously in Jordan and Egypt.

From BBC • Nov. 13, 2023

Her staff, she added with a laugh, “took it as mail from the lunatic fringe and just tossed it.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 22, 2021

Unfortunately for the lunatic fringe, however, those events were just horse races:

From Slate • Jun. 7, 2018

Sure, Jones arguably says more outlandish things from a position that used to be the far lunatic fringe.

From Salon • Jun. 16, 2017

By playing on the sentimentality of this same "lunatic fringe," the German intriguers almost succeeded in driving through a bill to stop this traffic.

From Theodore Roosevelt; an Intimate Biography by Thayer, William Roscoe