New Right

American  

noun

(sometimes lowercase)

1. a group of conservatives whose views diverge from those of traditional conservatives, as in being more staunchly opposed to abortion or defense cuts.

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New Right British  

noun

1. a range of radical right-wing groups and ideologies which advocate laissez-faire economic policies, anti-welfarism, and the belief in the rights of the individual over the common good

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Other Word Forms

• New Rightist noun

Etymology

Origin of New Right

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

Maggie Thatcher came a few years before Reagan, but they were closely allied and historically linked as figureheads of the triumphant New Right.

From Salon • Feb. 15, 2026

Back in the 1980s, the Reagan coalition was a fusion of free-market economics, cultural conservatism, anti-communism and international foreign affairs, says Laura K Field, author of Furious Minds: The Making of the Maga New Right.

From BBC • Dec. 15, 2025

Germany’s top security official, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, accused the so-called New Right of trying to combine “an intellectual and modern appearance” with continued hatred toward refugees and migrants.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 26, 2023

The New Right was the movement in the 1960s-1970s that produced Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan.

From Washington Post • Aug. 7, 2022

Hostility to feminism emerged in that decade, with the rise of the New Right.

From New York Times • Feb. 11, 2020