neoconservative

American  

[nee-oh-kuhn-sur-vuh-tiv] / ˌni oʊ kənˈsɜr və tɪv /

adjective

1. being or relating to a faction of the conservative political movement that heavily supports the promotion of democracy abroad through military intervention.

   Neoconservative pundits have heavily supported the bill.

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noun

1. a person who is politically conservative and heavily supports the promotion of democracy abroad through military intervention.

   He's a longstanding neoconservative whose political columns have been highly influential.

Etymology

Origin of neoconservative

First recorded in 1880–85; neo- ( def. ) + conservative ( def. )

Example Sentences

Mr. Carlson has come a long way since the bow-tied folly of his neoconservative youth.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 31, 2025

He later served as vice chairman for the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based neoconservative think tank.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2025

He was released in 1986, during the heyday of Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms, and emigrated to Israel, where he became a parliamentarian and a hero to the neoconservative movement in the U.S.

From Slate • Oct. 24, 2023

But how he got from there to neoconservative foreign policy, he said, “is a bit more complicated.”

From New York Times • May 10, 2022

An energetic autodidact, Hill spun great literature, classical and modern, to justify his mottled Foreign Service record, paleoconservative convictions and neoconservative alliances.

From Salon • May 8, 2021