banana republic

Definition of banana republic

: a small dependent country usually of the tropics especially : one run despotically

Examples of banana republic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused President Trump of running a banana republic after his recent photo-op in front of St. John's Episcopal Church during protests in Washington. — Madison Dibble, Washington Examiner, "'What is this? A banana republic?': Nancy Pelosi mocks Trump church photo-op," 3 June 2020 Clearly, creating an effective blanket immunity for those powerful enough to run for president is truly the stuff of banana republics. — Luke Thompson, National Review, "Why Trump Did Nothing Wrong in His Phone Call with Zelensky," 29 Sep. 2019 By labeling law-abiding political opponents criminal and enforcing state sanctions on that basis, San Francisco is taking the path of the banana republic. — David French, National Review, "San Francisco’s Assault on the NRA Is Dangerous to Our Democracy," 10 Sep. 2019 If this is a banana republic with a few very, very rich people and everyone else living in misery, that’s a failure. — Casey Tolan, The Mercury News, "Tom Steyer joins presidential race, reversing earlier decision not to run," 9 July 2019 Marshall was one of the many kind colleagues who took me under their wing and taught me how to live in this wonderful banana republic and appreciate its unique charms. — Jeff Duncan, nola.com, "My front row seat to the Golden Age of New Orleans sports," 28 June 2019 Two, in some of these places where WhatsApp becomes a source of every horrible rumor in these third-world banana republics these days. — Eric Johnson, Recode, "Full Q&A: NBC journalists Chuck Todd, Andrea Mitchell and Hallie Jackson on Recode Decode," 5 Dec. 2018 Managers, who have the shelf life of banana republic dictators, hit bricks more than Padres hit baseballs. — Nick Canepa, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Padres' Green playing the hand he has been dealt," 13 May 2018 Increasingly, the United States — which had long been a symbol of stability and seriousness — is being seen as a banana republic, or, rather, a once serious nation run by an unstable egomaniac. — Andrés Oppenheimer, miamiherald, "Even Latin America worries that White House chaos is a sign of U.S. instability | Miami Herald," 13 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'banana republic.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Dictionary Entries near banana republic

banana republic

banana root borer

Statistics for banana republic

Last Updated

22 Jun 2020

Cite this Entry

“Banana republic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/banana%20republic. Accessed 2 Jul. 2020.

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