as in conservative
a person whose political beliefs are centered on tradition and keeping things the way they are
rightists opposed the new social programs
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in reactionary
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of rightist
Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2026
Earlier this month, Brazil’s Supreme Court sentenced the rightist Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison for plotting a coup following his 2023 election loss.
—semafor.com, 22 Sep. 2025
Historians have pointed to Hodge’s early support of reactionary rightists, including industrialists, landlords, and businessmen—people who were associated with Japanese rule.
—Kornel Chang
september 19, Literary Hub, 19 Sep. 2025
semafor.com, 6 Feb. 2026
Noun
That is, rightists who oppose aid to Ukraine tend to be skeptical of Israel and at least open to having anti-Semites in the Republican coalition.
—Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2026
Earlier this month, Brazil’s Supreme Court sentenced the rightist Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison for plotting a coup following his 2023 election loss.
—semafor.com, 22 Sep. 2025
Historians have pointed to Hodge’s early support of reactionary rightists, including industrialists, landlords, and businessmen—people who were associated with Japanese rule.
—Kornel Chang
september 19, Literary Hub, 19 Sep. 2025
Adjective
Rising worries over crime are upending Latin American politics, propelling rightist candidates to the top of polls across the region.
—semafor.com, 6 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rightist
Noun
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Some of Thomas’s critique appeared to be aimed at weak-willed conservatives, including his fellow-Justices, for being, as Thomas perceives it, too spineless to stand up for the ideals enshrined in the Declaration.—
Ruth Marcus,
New Yorker,
21 May 2026
-
Without enough conservatives to force compromise, contrasting ideas have to come from somewhere else, Akhavan said.—
Sandra McDonald,
Los Angeles Times,
20 May 2026
Adjective
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Amplifying concerns over Bolloré’s ideological agenda is the presence of CNews, France’s equivalent to Fox News which has, over the years, given a mainstream platform to reactionary, far right voices, within Canal+ Group.—
Elsa Keslassy,
Variety,
18 May 2026
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As with The Second Act, which sent up cancel culture, there’s a slightly reactionary vibe in the way the script has Stewart’s Madeleine represent a distinctly millennial kind of passive-aggressiveness.—
Leslie Felperin,
HollywoodReporter,
17 May 2026
Adjective
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But its narrative premise is almost an alibi, for the textual disjecta that accrete around it are seemingly endless, aleatory digressions into everything from film criticism and medical trivia to literary biography and leftist history.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
21 May 2026
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The Spanish court said on Tuesday that Zapatero was being investigated for allegedly leading an influence-peddling and money-laundering network, in another blow to the leftist government beset by corruption scandals.—
Reuters,
NBC news,
20 May 2026
Adjective
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State lawmakers can’t stop federal agents from wearing masks, for instance, so Democrats brought a bill requiring local law enforcement officers to identify themselves — and to intervene if police see a federal agent using excessive force.—
Nick Coltrain,
Denver Post,
15 May 2026
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The two highest-ranking Republicans in the state legislature called Wednesday for former New Britain mayor Erin Stewart to consider dropping out of the governor’s race over reported excessive spending on the city’s credit card.—
Christopher Keating,
Hartford Courant,
14 May 2026
Adjective
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Prosecutors described Chkhikvishvili as the leader of the Maniac Murder Cult, an international extremist group that adheres to a neo-Nazi ideology promoting violence intended to trigger a racial and religious war.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
14 May 2026
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Meanwhile, militant leftists, a small subset of extremist violence in the United States, are portrayed as a threat on par with global terrorist networks such as al-Qaida.—
Hannah Allam,
ProPublica,
14 May 2026
Adjective
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Roughly a mile away as the crow flies is the site of what once was known as Mills College, which was a private, four-year liberal-arts college for women.—
Jay Caspian Kang,
New Yorker,
19 May 2026
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Politically, the industry was equal parts liberal and libertarian, and was perhaps best reflected by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, created to protect the denizens of cyberspace from an overreaching government.—
Jonathan Weber,
Fortune,
19 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Rightist.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rightist. Accessed 22 May. 2026.
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