Meaning & use
patriotism
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountable
A strong feeling of love, loyalty, and pride toward your own country.
Grammar: No plural and no article: She felt great patriotism.
Patterns
- feel patriotism
- a display of patriotism
- patriotism and something
Her patriotism grew stronger after she spent a year studying abroad.
Fans sang the anthem with visible patriotism before the match.
He questioned whether the flag ceremony expressed patriotism or simply habit.
Common combinations
- blind patriotism
- Blind patriotism made it impossible for him to admit his country had made a mistake.
- a surge of patriotism
- After the storm, a surge of patriotism brought neighbors together to rebuild the town.
- a display of patriotism
- Wearing the national colors was her quiet display of patriotism.
- arouse patriotism
- The speech was designed to arouse patriotism in young voters.
Synonyms and how they differ
- nationalism
- Nationalism can suggest believing your country is better than others, sometimes aggressively; patriotism is simply love for one's own country.
- loyalty
- Loyalty is broader — you can be loyal to a friend or a team — while patriotism is loyalty directed at a country.
- devotion
- Devotion emphasizes deep personal commitment; it fits people but not always the general feeling of a crowd.
Opposites
Word family
- patriot noun
- a person who loves and strongly supports their country
- patriotic adjective
- showing love and support for your country
- patriotically adverb
- in a patriotic way
- unpatriotic adjective
- not showing love or support for your country
Commonly confused: patriotism or nationalism?
patriotism vs nationalism
Patriotism is love of your own country; nationalism often adds the idea that your nation should dominate or is superior to others.
Practice
Unlike nationalism, which can involve hostility toward other nations, ___ is simply love and loyalty to one's own country.
Choose one answer.
Patriotism means love and loyalty to your own country. Patrol and patronage are unrelated words that only look similar; patronage means financial support from a patron.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “patriotism”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.