republican
Pluralrepublicans, Republicans
Pluralrepublicans, Republicans
- 1Someone who belongs to or supports the Republican Party, which is the more right-wing of the two major American parties.
She grew up in a family of Democrats but registered as a Republican at eighteen.
Several Republicans joined Democrats in voting to pass the budget.
UsageWritten with a capital R. The partner noun is a Democrat, but the adjective is Democratic: a Democratic senator.
- 2Relating to or belonging to the Republican Party of the United States.
Party leaders said Republican lawmakers would block the proposal in committee.
Over the past decade the district has become safe Republican territory.
UsageWritten with a capital R; a state can vote Republican or lean Republican.
- 3Relating to a republic, or supporting a republic as a form of government rather than a monarchy.
Pamphlets full of republican ideas spread quickly among the colonists before the revolution.
The country's republican movement has spent decades campaigning to replace the monarchy.
UsageUsually written lowercase here: republican ideas. With a capital R it usually means a party.
Note
In The Great Nation, Colin Jones explains that republican ideas in eighteenth-century France lacked an established institution to promote them. The monarchy supported arguments based on reason, while the parlements, France's high courts, supported arguments based on law.
- 4A backer of the left-wing government side, rather than the Nationalist rebels, in the Spanish Civil War.
As a Republican in the Spanish Civil War, he fled across the Pyrenees into France when Franco's forces took Barcelona.
Thousands of foreign volunteers crossed the Pyrenees to fight alongside the Republicans.
SimilarLoyalist
OppositeNationalist
Note
A historian's label for one side of the Spanish Civil War: those who stood with the government, and the left that fought for it. Its politics run the other way from the American party, the more right-wing of the two in the United States, which shows that the shared name points to a form of state rather than to a place on the left or right.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Republicans is a historical label for supporters of the government during the Spanish Civil War. warwick.ac.uk
- The Spanish Republican side was predominantly on the political left. en.wikipedia.org
- The American Republican Party is the more right-wing of the two major US parties. en.wikipedia.org
- The shared word refers to support for a republican form of government rather than a fixed position on the political spectrum. en.wiktionary.org
Less common meanings
- 5A person who favors a republic as a form of government, rather than a monarchy.
A committed republican, she refused to stand when the band played the royal anthem.
Many republicans argue that no one should inherit the right to lead the country.
UsageUsually written lowercase here; its opposite is monarchist.
Similaranti-monarchist
Oppositemonarchist
Note
In a country that still has a monarch, this is the person who would end the monarchy, and the plain opposite is monarchist; anti-monarchist and antiroyalist say the same thing. In Boswell's Life of Johnson (1791), Mrs Macaulay is "a great republican". The stance can also sit lightly: Sean Dooley, in The Big Twitch, is "a bit of a republican at heart" yet would love to meet the Prince.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- James Boswell wrote Life of Johnson, first published in 1791. en.wikipedia.org
- In Boswell's book, Samuel Johnson calls Mrs Macaulay “a great republican”. gutenberg.org
- Sean Dooley wrote The Big Twitch, a nonfiction book. en.wikipedia.org
- Dooley describes himself as “a bit of a republican at heart” while saying he would love to be introduced to the Prince. en.wiktionary.org
- 6An Irish nationalist who supports the cause of a united Ireland.
As a lifelong Republican, he never accepted the border between North and South.
Unionists and Republicans sat at the same table for the first time in years.
UsageOften paired with nationalist, and set against unionist.
Note
In this Irish sense the word belongs to the question of the border rather than the crown. It is often written lowercase too, so context, such as a united Ireland or unionists across the table, is what separates it from the opponent of monarchy.
- 7Relating to the period of the Republic of China's rule on the Chinese mainland, from 1912 to 1949.
Historians of Republican China study how the new state tried to modernize its schools.
The novel is set in Republican Shanghai, among dance halls and foreign banks.
- 8In French politics, a member of the right-wing party Les Républicains.
As a Republican, the French senator opposed raising taxes on small businesses.
France's Republicans and Socialists both lost ground in the regional vote.
- 9In Irish politics, a follower or member of the center-right party Fianna Fáil.
It was confident both that the Republicans would never put it out to put Cosgrave in, and that Fine Gael was equally against the Republicans.
1970, The Republic of Ireland: an hypothesis in eight chapters and two intermissionsNote
The label survives mainly in older Irish political writing, where Republicans set against Fine Gael, or against putting Cosgrave in, are Fianna Fáil's people. It is now rare, and a modern Irish reader is likelier to hear a supporter of a united Ireland, so in current writing the party's own name is the clearer choice.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Older Irish political writing uses Republicans for Fianna Fáil supporters, including in opposition to Fine Gael or to putting Cosgrave in power. en.wiktionary.org
- 10Someone who belongs to Die Republikaner, a German far-right party.
- 11Another name for the American cliff swallow.
- 12Another name for the sociable weaver.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
From the adjective republican ("favoring a republic").
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The political noun derives from republican, the adjective meaning favoring a republic. en.wiktionary.org
Formed from republic + -an, partly modeled on French républicain.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Republican is formed from republic and -an. en.wiktionary.org
- The formation was partly modeled on French républicain. en.wiktionary.org