maximalist

American  

[mak-suh-muh-list] / ˈmæk sə mə lɪst /

noun

1. a person who favors a radical and immediate approach to the achievement of a set of goals or the completion of a program.

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Maximalist ¹ British  

/ ˈmæksɪməlɪst /

noun

1. a member of the radical faction of Social Revolutionaries that supported terrorism against the tsarist regime and advocated a short period of postrevolutionary working-class dictatorship

2. a less common name for a Bolshevik

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maximalist ² British  

/ ˈmæksɪməlɪst /

noun

1. a person who favours direct action to achieve all his goals and rejects compromise

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Etymology

Origin of maximalist

< Russian maksimalíst, coinage originally applied in 1906 to an extreme splinter group of the Russian Socialist-Revolutionary party; maximal, -ist

Example Sentences

You can tell which year it is by the amount of rhinestones on his costumes, which become increasingly maximalist.

From Los Angeles Times

You can go maximalist — an Alison Roman–style ham party, complete with pickled vegetables, fancy mustard and crusty bread — or you can go blissfully minimal with a giant sub sliced into generous hunks.

From Salon

At last year's Grammys, Lady Gaga booked out an entire ad break to premiere the music video for Abracadabra, her fantastically maximalist return to pop theatrics.

From BBC

Her seventh album, Mayhem, is a triumphant return to the maximalist pop that made her famous, delivered with the hard-won grace of someone who's endured 18 years in the pop machine.

From BBC

This is the version of Italian food that rarely makes it into mainstream imagination: not flashy, not maximalist, but deeply comforting in its restraint.

From Salon