a person who loves, supports, and defends their country and its interests with devotion.
a person who values individual rights, especially one who attempts to defend those rights against presumed interference by the federal government.
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.
First recorded in 1570–80; from Middle French patriote, from Late Latin patriōta, from Greek patriṓtēs “fellow-countryman, lineage member (in the paternal line)”
How does patriot compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
A patriot is someone who loves and who has sometimes fought for his or her country. “Nathan Hale was a true patriot; his only regret was that he had but one life to give for his country.” The word patriot comes from patrios (Greek, not Latin for once), which means "of one’s father." So, despite various references to the motherland, the word patriot more or less lands us square in the fatherland arena. And if you’re a football fan, the New England Patriots is a near-Boston-based team (Boston being a major source of American patriots in the Revolutionary War). And, if you want to get yourself in trouble, you can wander Boston with a megaphone chanting, “The Patriots stink.”
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Before he became a patriot and founding father, Benjamin Franklin was a businessman.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026
A nation at peace still needs to be built, and that takes a different kind of patriot.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 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
"Regardless of what they say, to me, my son was a patriot, and that's what matters to me."
From Barron's • Jan. 19, 2026
Silversmith, printmaker, businessman, and patriot, Revere has acquired heroic status thanks to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s long poem about his legendary midnight ride, and Copley’s painting has become virtually an American icon.
From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson
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.
