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royalist

American  
[roi-uh-list] / ˈrɔɪ ə lɪst /

noun

  1. a supporter or adherent of a king or royal government, especially in times of rebellion or civil war.

  2. (initial capital letter) a Cavalier adherent of Charles I of England.

  3. a loyalist in the American Revolution; Tory.

  4. (initial capital letter) an adherent of the house of Bourbon in France.


adjective

  1. of or relating to royalists.

    royalist sympathies.

royalist British  
/ ˈrɔɪəlɪst /

noun

  1. a supporter of a monarch or monarchy, esp a supporter of the Stuarts during the English Civil War

  2. informal an extreme reactionary or conservative

    an economic royalist

"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

adjective

  1. of, characteristic of, or relating to royalists

"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

Etymology

Origin of royalist

First recorded in 1635–45; royal + -ist

Vocabulary lists containing royalist

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.

Hutt became a keen royalist at the age of four, when the King and Queen visited his parents after the Blitz in London and gave him a souvenir mug.

From BBC • May 10, 2026

Some royalist leaders, including Lord Capel, removed their hats before execution as a calculated appeal to the crowd.

From Science Daily • May 7, 2026

He was executed the following year, and the war ground on for another decade until Agustín de Iturbide, a royalist colonel, switched allegiances and led the rebel factions to independence.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 14, 2025

The royalist faction in England were essentially moderates, who believed in religious liberty, wanted global trade and founded the Royal Society to advance science.

From Salon • Mar. 15, 2025

He despised those American colonials who had fought against his England, yet he still chose to settle in Philadelphia, where he set up a royalist newspaper called The Porcupine's Gazette.

From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy

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