Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One who has moderate political views.
  • adjective Marked by or having moderate political views.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In the German Reichstag or Imperial Parliament, one of the members of the so-called Center or Ultramontane party.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of, pertaining to, or advocating centrism.
  • noun A person who advocates centrism.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective supporting or pursuing a course of action that is neither liberal nor conservative
  • noun a person who takes a position in the political center

Etymologies

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Examples

  • I look at the term centrist and think of politicians who are afraid to take positions on issues that might cause heartburn with swing voters.

    Steve Hildebrand: Battling the Blue Dogs 2009

  • I object to the term "centrist" Democrats in this article.

    News - latimes.com 2011

  • I look at the term centrist and think of politicians who are afraid to take positions on issues that might cause heartburn with swing voters.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com The Huffington Post News Editors 2010

  • I look at the term centrist and think of politicians who are afraid to take positions on issues that might cause heartburn with swing voters.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com 2009

  • I look at the term centrist and think of politicians who are afraid to take positions on issues that might cause heartburn with swing voters.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com 2009

  • And indeed, I think of Gerry Ford as one of a small and diminishing group of what I call centrist Republicans, not necessarily liberal or conservative, but I think centrist.

    CNN Transcript Dec 27, 2006 2006

  • In Cairo, Jihan Moussa, 39, a veiled pharmacist, said she had voted for the Egyptian Bloc which she described as centrist.

    Reuters: Press Release 2011

  • Perhaps a 'centrist' is someone who would have finished the task in Afganistan and completed the hunt for OBL before launching an unnecessary war in Iraq that was poorly planned and poorly fought and that has proven to embolden our enemies and weaken ourselves.

    Sound Politics: The Religion of Peace Marches On 2006

  • But perhaps more importantly, a 'centrist' is someone who strives objectively to understand the world as it really exists before he acts in it in consequential ways rather than someone who interprets that world through an ideology that ignors inconvenient facts and acts in total disregard of all who question its vision.

    Sound Politics: The Religion of Peace Marches On 2006

  • MJ posted: "But perhaps more importantly, a 'centrist' is someone who strives objectively to understand the world as it really exists before he acts in it in consequential ways rather than someone who interprets that world through an ideology that ignors inconvenient facts and acts in total disregard of all who question its vision."

    Sound Politics: The Religion of Peace Marches On 2006

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