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Antonyms for patriot
| Grammar : Noun |
| Spell : pey-tree-uh t, -ot or, esp. British, pa-tree-uh t |
| Phonetic Transcription : ˈpeɪ tri ət, -ˌɒt or, esp. British, ˈpæ tri ət |
Definition of patriot
Origin :- 1590s, "compatriot," from Middle French patriote (15c.) and directly from Late Latin patriota "fellow-countryman" (6c.), from Greek patriotes "fellow countryman," from patrios "of one's fathers," patris "fatherland," from pater (genitive patros) "father" (see father (n.)); with -otes, suffix expressing state or condition. Liddell and Scott write that patriotes was "applied to barbarians who had only a common [patris], [politai] being used of Greeks who had a common [polis] (or free-state)."
- Meaning "loyal and disinterested supporter of one's country" is attested from c.1600, but became an ironic term of ridicule or abuse from mid-18c. in England, so that Johnson, who at first defined it as "one whose ruling passion is the love of his country," in his fourth edition added, "It is sometimes used for a factious disturber of the government."
- The name of patriot had become [c.1744] a by-word of derision. Horace Walpole scarcely exaggerated when he said that ... the most popular declaration which a candidate could make on the hustings was that he had never been and never would be a patriot. [Macaulay, "Horace Walpole," 1833]
- Somewhat revived in reference to resistance movements in overrun countries in World War II, it has usually had a positive sense in American English, where the phony and rascally variety has been consigned to the word patrioteer (1928). Oriana Fallaci ["The Rage and the Pride," 2002] marvels that Americans, so fond of patriotic, patriot, and patriotism, lack the root noun and are content to express the idea of patria by cumbersome compounds such as homeland. (Joyce, Shaw, and H.G. Wells all used patria as an English word early 20c., but it failed to stick.) Patriots' Day (April 19, anniversary of the 1775 skirmishes at Lexington and Concord Bridge) was observed as a legal holiday in Maine and Massachusetts from 1894.
- noun person who loves his or her country
- She was a Livingston, and a patriot, and she knew me for one as well.
- Extract from : « In the Valley » by Harold Frederic
- This unlucky newspaper was a thorn in the side of every patriot of Carlow County.
- Extract from : « The Gentleman From Indiana » by Booth Tarkington
- Hardly had we breakfasted, when he, the Patriot, waited upon us.
- Extract from : « The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 10, No. 58, August, 1862 » by Various
- Soon he was in among the trees and out of sight of the patriot soldiers on the Heights.
- Extract from : « The Dare Boys of 1776 » by Stephen Angus Cox
- “There are two things that I hope to do, when in the patriot army,” said Dick.
- Extract from : « The Dare Boys of 1776 » by Stephen Angus Cox
- I intend to be a patriot myself, and to kill the Grand Duke of Reisenburg.
- Extract from : « Vivian Grey » by Earl of Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli
- Whose be the white bones by thy side, once leagued in patriot band!
- Extract from : « The Universal Reciter » by Various
- Every good Dutch patriot must feel persuaded of the truth of this.
- Extract from : « The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. IX » by Various
- This was Jonaique Jelly, barber, clock-mender, and Manx patriot.
- Extract from : « The Manxman » by Hall Caine
- I would you could have seen me play the part of the patriot.
- Extract from : « The Trampling of the Lilies » by Rafael Sabatini
Synonyms for patriot
Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019