Meaning & use
populist
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A politician or supporter who claims to speak for ordinary people against powerful elites.
Grammar: Countable: a populist, several populists.
Patterns
- a populist leader
- a populist movement
The new senator is a populist who promises to fight big banks.
Populists on both sides attacked the trade deal.
A skilled populist can turn anger into votes.
adjectivecomparable
Appealing to or claiming to represent the concerns of ordinary people, often by simple, emotional arguments.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after be: a populist message.
Patterns
- populist message
- populist policies
The mayor's populist message won over factory workers.
Critics called the tax cut a populist gesture.
Populist movements have grown across many countries.
adjectivecomparable
Designed to be popular with a wide audience, such as in entertainment or the arts.
Grammar: Used about art, media and culture, sometimes with mild criticism.
Patterns
- populist appeal
The museum's populist exhibition drew record crowds.
He writes populist history books that sell millions.
Word forms
| plural | populists |
|---|
Common combinations
- populist leader
- The populist leader promised to put workers first.
- populist appeal
- Her campaign had a strong populist appeal.
- right-wing populist
- The right-wing populist party gained seats.
- populist rhetoric
- Populist rhetoric often blames distant elites.
- populist movement
- The populist movement grew after the financial crisis.
- populist policies
- Populist policies like price caps are popular but costly.
Synonyms and how they differ
- demagogue
- Demagogue is strongly negative and means a leader who stirs up fear and prejudice, while populist is more neutral.
- popular
- Popular simply means liked by many, whereas populist describes a style of politics that claims to speak for ordinary people.
- grassroots
- Grassroots describes a movement that really starts among ordinary people, while populist can be led from the top.
- crowd-pleasing
- Crowd-pleasing means made to win applause and is lighter in tone than populist.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: populist or popular? populist or populous?
populist vs popular
Popular means widely liked, while populist refers to politics claiming to defend ordinary people against elites.
populist vs populous
Populous means having a large population, as in a populous city. It is not about politics.
Practice
The candidate gave a ___ speech, attacking the elite and promising simple answers for ordinary workers.
Choose one answer.
Populist describes a political style claiming to speak for ordinary people. Populous means crowded, populated means inhabited, and popular merely means liked.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “populist”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.