bigot

noun big·ot \ ˈbi-gət \

Updated on: 10 Apr 2018

Definition of bigot

: a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially : one who regards or treats the members of a group (such as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance

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Examples of bigot in a Sentence

"It's scandalous," he said, in the tones once used by Colonel Blimp, Britain's best-loved bigot, who adorned the pages of the Evening Standard throughout the 1930s. —Nicholas Fraser, Harper's, September 1996
A bigot is a hater, she said. A bigot hates Catholics. A bigot hates Jews. … It's no sin to be poor, she said. It is a sin to be a bigot. Don't ever be one of them. —Pete Hamill, A Drinking Life, 1994
One had always to be mindful, moreover, that being a black scholar did not exempt one from the humiliations and indignities that a society with more than its share of bigots can heap upon a black person, regardless of education … —John Hope Franklin, "John Hope Franklin: A Life of Learning," 1988, in Race and History, 1989
He was labeled a bigot after making some offensive comments.
an incorrigible bigot who hasn't entertained a new thought in years

Recent Examples of bigot from the Web

The existence of ghettos is no longer enforced by implacable bigots.

— The Economist, "Half a century after Martin Luther King’s murder, America remains an unequal place," 4 Apr. 2018
This is the kind of thing that bigots scoff at as the trappings of femininity, but those people don’t understand how important makeup can be.

— lilah sturges, Teen Vogue, "A MAC Lipstick Helped Me With My Gender Transition," 28 Mar. 2018
Forty years later, anyone saying those same things would probably be labeled a bigot and excluded from the mainstream.

— author: charles wohlforth | opinion, Anchorage Daily News, "How an awkward evening with a transgender woman opened my eyes to my own prejudice," 15 Feb. 2018
Twenty years later, that same person is a right-wing bigot, and the positions that were formerly radical-left are now the new mainstream.

— david french, National Review, "Democratic Immigration Extremism and Warnings of Extremism to Come," 25 Jan. 2018
In January 1971, producer Norman Lear launched his iconic All In the Family TV show with Archie Bunker as the stereotypical working-class bigot.

— USA TODAY, "Read more from this Project," 18 Mar. 2018
In one interview or speech after another, Sheela called Oregonians who disagreed with her bigots.

— kristi turnquist | the oregonian/oregonlive, OregonLive.com, "Netflix documentary on Rajneeshees in Oregon revisits an amazing, enraging true story," 14 Mar. 2018
Hey George Prentice was a bigot thanks for the follow!

— darcy costello, The Courier-Journal, "Hacked library foundation Twitter declares 'we support racists,' Prentice was a 'bigot'," 9 Mar. 2018
Start with the fact that Trump has always been a bigot and a sexist.

— Anchorage Daily News, "A Trump compromise on guns? Don’t count on it.," 5 Mar. 2018

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

Origin and Etymology of bigot

French, hypocrite, bigot

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First Known Use: 1660

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bigot Synonyms

Other Sociology Terms

bourgeois, ethos, eugenics, exurb, incommunicado, intelligentsia, megalopolis, metrosexual, mores, subculture

BIGOT Defined for English Language Learners

bigot

noun

Definition of bigot for English Language Learners

: a person who strongly and unfairly dislikes other people, ideas, etc. : a bigoted person; especially : a person who hates or refuses to accept the members of a particular group (such as a racial or religious group)