as in revolutionaries
a person who favors rapid and sweeping changes especially in laws and methods of government
extremists wanted to do away with everything, even though they had no thought-out plan for what to do afterwards
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Recent Examples of extremists
The attack was the third in less than two months that French authorities attributed to Islamic extremists, and prompted the government to raise its security alert to the maximum level.
—
Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 28 Feb. 2025
Performances that allow children in the audience have come under fire from far-right extremists and lawmakers across the country, with over a dozen bills introduced across 8 states in 2023.
—Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY, 26 Feb. 2025
Seventy Christians were allegedly decapitated by Islamist extremists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) just over a week ago, but the group accused of carrying out the massacre has been terrorizing communities for over a decade.
—Matt Robison, Newsweek, 25 Feb. 2025
These young people, who often revel in being called extremists, are helping to broaden the party’s appeal ahead of the election.
—Sergey Ponomarev, New York Times, 22 Feb. 2025
Uneducated populations are putty in the hands of extremists, from Marxists to jihadists.
—Llewellyn King, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Feb. 2025
Keneally said her team, which monitors more than 1,000 online accounts run by extremists of all stripes, has seen a surge in calls for recruitment by extremist organizations.
—Will Carless, USA TODAY, 22 Feb. 2025
For 80 years, the democracies that lived through the war shared a commitment to ostracizing extremists.
—Massimo Calabresi/dachau, TIME, 22 Feb. 2025
But like Ali and other extremism researchers, Segal noted that the biggest threat to American lives for decades has been far-right extremists.
—Will Carless, USA TODAY, 22 Feb. 2025
Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 28 Feb. 2025
Performances that allow children in the audience have come under fire from far-right extremists and lawmakers across the country, with over a dozen bills introduced across 8 states in 2023.
—Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY, 26 Feb. 2025
Seventy Christians were allegedly decapitated by Islamist extremists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) just over a week ago, but the group accused of carrying out the massacre has been terrorizing communities for over a decade.
—Matt Robison, Newsweek, 25 Feb. 2025
These young people, who often revel in being called extremists, are helping to broaden the party’s appeal ahead of the election.
—Sergey Ponomarev, New York Times, 22 Feb. 2025
Uneducated populations are putty in the hands of extremists, from Marxists to jihadists.
—Llewellyn King, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Feb. 2025
Keneally said her team, which monitors more than 1,000 online accounts run by extremists of all stripes, has seen a surge in calls for recruitment by extremist organizations.
—Will Carless, USA TODAY, 22 Feb. 2025
For 80 years, the democracies that lived through the war shared a commitment to ostracizing extremists.
—Massimo Calabresi/dachau, TIME, 22 Feb. 2025
But like Ali and other extremism researchers, Segal noted that the biggest threat to American lives for decades has been far-right extremists.
—Will Carless, USA TODAY, 22 Feb. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for extremists
Noun
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Hasina's ouster has left both political as well as security vacuums, giving more space to religious radicals.—
Michael Kugelman,
NPR,
21 Dec. 2024
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Obama ended up funding and arming the Syrian opposition so feebly it was slaughtered and – when its extremists joined up with radicals from Iraq’s long-running insurgency against the US occupation – metastasized into ISIS.—
Nick Paton Walsh,
CNN,
7 Dec. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Extremists.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/extremists. Accessed 1 May. 2025.
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