New Deal
Americannoun
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the principles of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, especially those advocated under the leadership of President Franklin D. Roosevelt for economic recovery and social reforms.
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the domestic program of the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, especially during the period from 1933 to 1941.
noun
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the domestic policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt for economic and social reform
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the period of the implementation of these policies (1933–40)
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The New Deal remains controversial. Some have criticized it as too expensive and have called it an inadvisable expansion of federal control over the American economy. Others have insisted that the New Deal was an appropriate response to desperate conditions and produced programs of continuing value.
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Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of New Deal
1830–35, as political catchphrase during the Jackson presidency
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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.
“We’re creating a window on what downtown could look like,” said Simon Bertrang, executive director of SF New Deal, the nonprofit behind Vacant to Vibrant.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 16, 2026
As for domestic policy, the high-water mark of federal government power previously was coincidently during the tenure of TR’s distant cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in the New Deal.
From Barron's • Jan. 23, 2026
The Rural New Deal lays out a far-ranging platform to rebuild the nation’s economically embattled small farms, revitalize rural towns, invest in community infrastructures, fund rural health care and schools, and other urgent priorities.
From Salon • Dec. 20, 2025
To be sure, the vast expansion of the interstate commerce power since the New Deal has also resulted in an increase in the number of federal crimes.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 8, 2025
Some of the private foundations’ publicity-shy directors quailed at becoming named as partners with a New Deal program detested by their corporate patrons.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
