neocon
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of neocon
First recorded in 1975–80; by shortening
Explanation
A neocon is someone who agrees politically with conservative ideas including free market capitalism. Moderate conservatives tend to clash with neocons on issues of foreign policy. Faith in the free market is one important belief of neocons, but even more important is their support of interventionism. In other words, neocons support actively promoting democracy around the world, even if that means using military force. Neocon is short for neoconservative, which adds the neo-, or "new," prefix to conservative. The original neocons abandoned their formerly leftist ideals in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
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.
“I wouldn’t put my views in a libertarian box or neocon box,” he concluded.
From New York Times ● Jan. 6, 2020
Krauthammer spent his political youth as a liberal-ish speechwriter for Walter Mondale and ended up a neocon on Fox News.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 23, 2019
She later added: "OK folks, look, I messed up. I skimmed this piece, zeroed in on the neocon criticism, and shared it without seeing and considering the rest."
From Fox News ● Mar. 30, 2019
He’s not a neocon or a hawk or a realist.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 27, 2018
This, then, is the legendary Hitch – one-time titan and hero of the left, latterly post-9/11 neocon turncoat – the man who took on Henry Kissinger, Mother Teresa, George Galloway, God and Saddam Hussein.
From The Guardian ● May 21, 2010
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.
