constitutionalism

noun con·sti·tu·tion·al·ism \ ˌkän(t)-stə-ˈtü-sh(ə-)nə-ˌli-zəm , -tyü- \

|Updated on: 20 Jul 2018

Definition of constitutionalism

: adherence to or government according to constitutional principles; also : a constitutional system of government

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constitutionalist

play \ˌkän(t)-stə-ˈtü-sh(ə-)nə-list, -tyü-\ noun

See constitutionalism defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of constitutionalism from the Web

At the end of the day, this comes down to originalism, constitutionalism.

— Fox News, "Sekulow: Kavanaugh will be a brilliant Supreme Court justice," 10 July 2018
Budget footnotes show at least $100,000 of the $1 million given to ASU's freedom school must be used to support research on Arizona's Constitution and the development of a course on civics and constitutionalism for K-12 students.

— rachel leingang, azcentral, "Koch-backed 'freedom schools' in Arizona to get money in university funding budget," 1 May 2018
These statesmen and philosophers articulated the principles of modern Anglo-American constitutionalism centuries before the U.S. was created.

— yoram hazony, WSJ, "The Dark Side of the Enlightenment," 6 Apr. 2018
Trump isn’t going back to early 19th century constitutionalism.

— jon talton, The Seattle Times, "Trump’s infrastructure scheme: Tearing down 150 years of federal support," 17 Feb. 2018
While nonoriginalists cheer this as showing that originalism differs little in practice from living constitutionalism, this has led some originalists to deny or disparage the distinction itself.

— randy barnett, Washington Post, "Presenting a “unified” theory of Originalism," 8 Oct. 2017
But the stark tone of the speech—the broad attack on foreignness, the disregard for notions of liberty, equality, and constitutionalism—shows how that essential chauvinism isn’t far from the surface.

— jamelle bouie, Slate Magazine, "In his inaugural address, new ruler Donald Trump promised a return to dominance for a certain kind of American.," 20 Jan. 2017
His appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court is an outstanding appointment for avid constitutionalism.

— scott kaufman, Orange County Register, "Letters: Trump doing excellent job," 26 Apr. 2017
In 2013, journalists at Southern Weekend, another Southern Media Group publication, protested over a local propaganda official’s rewriting of a new year’s editorial to neuter its endorsement of constitutionalism.

— austin ramzy, New York Times, "Editor Says He Is Resigning Over Media Controls in China," 29 Mar. 2016

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

First Known Use of constitutionalism

1832

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

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