revisionist

American

[ri-vizh-uh-nist] / rɪˈvɪʒ ə nɪst /

noun

an advocate of revision, especially of some political or religious doctrine.
a reviser.
any advocate of doctrines, theories, or practices that depart from established authority or doctrine.

adjective

of or relating to revisionists or revisionism.
attempting to reevaluate and restate the past based on newly acquired standards.

Other Word Forms

antirevisionist noun

Etymology

Origin of revisionist

First recorded in 1860–65; revision + -ist

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.

While I don’t suspect “The Bride!” will be met with this same revisionist praise later in its life, there is something remarkable about the dual “aggravation” of expectations that Gyllenhaal and Shelley’s works share.

From Salon • Mar. 8, 2026

The memorials warned that fake content was also being created "specifically to dilute historical facts, shift victim and perpetrator roles, or spread revisionist narratives".

From Barron's • Jan. 27, 2026

Taking his cue from Richard Hofstadter, an influential 20th-century American historian and Roosevelt revisionist, Mr. Brown hews largely to contrary opinions.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 29, 2025

In fact, a Confederate journalist by the name of Edward A. Pollard began working on a revisionist history book that painted the South as noble and slavery as unimportant to their way of life.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 19, 2025

This was revisionist history, of course; the representations by the three scientists during their White House meeting the previous June were what had prompted Eisenhower to question publicly the wisdom of a test ban.

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