neoconservative

noun

neo·​con·​ser·​va·​tive ˌnē-ō-kən-ˈsər-və-tiv 

plural neoconservatives

1

: a former U.S. liberal espousing political conservatism and social conservatism

"They" are neoconservatives, the movement of former liberals who moved sharply rightward in the '60s and '70s …

—Eric Fettman

The word "neoconservative" originally referred to former liberals and leftists who were dismayed by the countercultural movements of the 1960s and the Great Society, and adopted conservative views, for example, against government welfare programs, and in favor of interventionist foreign policies.

—Elizabeth Drew

The original neoconservatives, then, were truly new conservatives …

—Paul Krause

called also neocon

2

: a U.S. conservative who calls for the assertive promotion of democracy and national interest in international affairs including through military means

… the dreams of neoconservatives who sought to remake the world in America's image.

—William Astore

While definitions vary, "neoconservative" generally refers to formerly moderate policy advocates who favor a hawkish and assertive foreign policy to implant democracy and American values abroad.

—Paul Richter

Liberal internationalists count on globalization, neoconservatives on democratization to get us to the sunny uplands of international harmony.

—Charles Krauthammer

called also neocon

neoconservatism

ˌnē-ō-kən-ˈsər-və-ˌti-zəm 

noun

Neoconservatism, whatever its complex roots, has become indelibly associated with concepts like coercive regime change, unilateralism and American hegemony. What is needed now are new ideas, neither neoconservative nor realist, for how America is to relate to the rest of the world—ideas that retain the neoconservative belief in the universality of human rights, but without its illusions about the efficacy of American power and hegemony to bring these ends about.

—Francis Fukayama

neoconservative adjective

neoconservative ideology

Examples of neoconservative in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Since the seventies, Commentary had been the house organ of disgruntled neoconservatives; by the nineties, left-leaning Democrats who were stalwart on Israel found a haven at The New Republic. —Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 9 Sep. 2024

The party’s Senate leadership, for instance, is dominated by neoconservatives. —Andrew Byers, Foreign Affairs, 1 July 2024

The party’s traditional establishment is made up of neoconservatives and primacists who want the United States to exercise its power around the world and use its military capabilities to achieve many ends. —Andrew Byers, Foreign Affairs, 1 July 2024

In Iraq, many in the Bush administration saw the most promising equivalent as Ahmed Chalabi, an exiled opponent of Saddam who was close with several neoconservatives. —Garrett M. Graff, Foreign Affairs, 5 May 2023

Word History

Etymology

neo- + conservative entry 2

First Known Use

1974, in the meaning defined at sense 1