ideologue

1 one who is intensely or excessively devoted to a cause <as long as there are ideologues controlling both sides of the aisle, legislative compromise is out of the question> Synonyms crusader, fanatic, zealot (also idealogue), militant, partisan (also partizan), red hot, true believerRelated Words activist; dreamer, idealist, visionary; cultist, disciple, follower, hanger-on, idolizer, votary; addict, aficionado (also afficionado), buff, bug, devotee, enthusiast, fan, fancier, fiend, fool, freak, habitué (also habitue), head, hound, junkie (also junky), lover, maniac, maven (also mavin), nut, sucker; advocate, apostle, backer, champion, evangelist, patron, promoter, stalwart, supporter; booster, rooter, well-wisher; faddistNear Antonyms dabbler, dilettanteAntonyms nonmilitant

2 one whose conduct is guided more by the image of perfection than by the real world <the revolutionaries proved to be impractical ideologues who had no idea how to run a country> Synonyms Don Quixote, dreamer, fantast, idealizer, idealist (also idealogue), romantic, romanticist, utopian, visionaryRelated Words emotionalist, sentimentalist; daydreamer, fantasizer, woolgatherer; Micawber, optimist, Pollyanna; do-gooder, reformer; perfectionist; doctrinaire, theorist, thinkerNear Antonyms cynic, defeatist, pessimist; empiric, empiricistAntonyms hardnose, pragmatist, realist