nationalist

American  

[nash-uh-nl-ist, nash-nuh-list] / ˈnæʃ ə nl ɪst, ˈnæʃ nə lɪst /

noun

• nationalists
  plural

1. a person devoted to nationalism.

2. (initial capital letter) a member of a political group advocating or fighting for national independence, a strong national government, etc.

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adjective

1. Also nationalistic. of, relating to, or promoting nationalism.

   the beginnings of a nationalist movement.

2. (initial capital letter) of, relating to, or noting a political group advocating or fighting for national independence, a strong national government, etc.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• antinationalist
  noun
• antinationalistic
  adjective
• hypernationalistic
  adjective
• nonnationalistic
  adjective
• pronationalist
  adjective
• pronationalistic
  adjective
• quasi-nationalistic
  adjective
• seminationalistic
  adjective
• unnationalistic
  adjective
• antinationalistically
  adverb
• nationalistically
  adverb
• nonnationalistically
  adverb
• unnationalistically
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• nationalists
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of nationalist

First recorded in 1705–15; national + -ist

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Explanation

A nationalist is a person who favors independence for a country. A Scottish nationalist, for example, believes that Scotland should be independent and separate from Great Britain. One kind of nationalist advocates political independence, feeling that her region or state would be better off as a completely separate country from the one that currently controls it. Another sort of nationalist also cares deeply for a country — believing, in fact, that her own country is better than all other countries. This type of nationalist is an extreme patriot, and the term has been around since the 1700s.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

nationalist nationalists

As a Catholic, Abbott has also managed to keep a discrete distance from the evangelicals who are the backbone of the Christian nationalist movement.

From Salon ● Oct. 13, 2026

The current dispute between China and Taiwan dates to a civil war between the nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek, who retreated to the island in 1949 after being defeated by Mao Zedong's communist fighters.

From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2026

Austria-Hungary and Germany had no grand imperial vision for Central Europe beyond shaping the nationalist forces at work there.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

A photo-op featuring three nationalist first ministers is certainly a very visible reminder of the recent shift in the UK's political landscape - "good optics" as they say.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

We can weave common myths such as the biblical creation story, the Dreamtime myths of Aboriginal Australians, and the nationalist myths of modern states.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

If the antipathy between Arab nationalists and Jewish Zionists had been the only factor fueling the violence, the Middle East might have cooled down after the end of the Cold War.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026

Decades of conflict between predominantly Catholic nationalists seeking Irish unity and largely Protestant unionists who wanted to remain in the United Kingdom culminated in the Troubles, which killed more than 3,500 people.

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026

To be sure, across the British Empire, the hunger strike emerged as a shared language of democratic, anti-colonial resistance - embraced by suffragettes in Britain and nationalists in Ireland and India.

From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026

Many Indian nationalists dream of India’s emerging as a third technological pole to rival the U.S. and China.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026

The group consisted mainly of ex-Communists turned extreme African nationalists.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

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Related Words

• superpatriot

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