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patriot

American  
[pey-tree-uht, -ot, pa-tree-uht] / ˈpeɪ tri ət, -ˌɒt, ˈpæ tri ət /

noun

  1. a person who loves, supports, and defends their country and its interests with devotion.

  2. a person who values individual rights, especially one who attempts to defend those rights against presumed interference by the federal government.

  3. Military. Patriot, a U.S. Army antiaircraft missile with a range of 37 miles (60 kilometers) and a 200-pound (90-kilogram) warhead, launched from a tracked vehicle with radar and computer guidance and fire control.

Patriot 1 British  
/ ˈpeɪtrɪət /

noun

  1. a US surface-to-air missile system with multiple launch stations and the capability to track multiple targets by radar

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
patriot 2 British  
/ ˈpeɪtrɪət, ˌpætrɪˈɒtɪk, ˈpæt- /

noun

  1. a person who vigorously supports his country and its way of life

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • antipatriot noun
  • patriotic adjective
  • patriotically adverb
  • semipatriot noun

Etymology

Origin of patriot

First recorded in 1570–80; from Middle French patriote, from Late Latin patriōta, from Greek patriṓtēs “fellow-countryman, lineage member (in the paternal line)”

Compare meaning

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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.

"Everyone chooses their own path, according to their interests," he said, calling himself a "patriot".

From Barron's • Feb. 13, 2026

"He didn't want to, but he had do it. He was a patriot," Natalia explains, through her tears.

From BBC • Feb. 4, 2026

At a time when even the largest American newspapers rarely had circulations exceeding 2,000, over 100,000 copies of “Common Sense” flew from patriot presses by mid-April and reached some 500,000 by 1778.

From Salon • Jan. 10, 2026

As Eran Shalev, a professor of history at Haifa University, shows in “The Star-Spangled Republic,” Lemen was hardly the only patriot with his head in the clouds.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 18, 2025

Wintergreen accepted his role of digging and filling up holes with all the uncomplaining dedication of a true patriot.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

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.