revanchist

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adjective

re·​vanch·​ist rə-ˈväⁿ-shist 

: of or relating to a policy designed to recover lost territory or status : of or relating to a revanche

Each of Hitler's allies had their own, partially interrelated, expansionary or revanchist motives for attacking the Soviet Union.

—Michael Burleigh

Wilson brought with him a sheaf of high principles—democracy, self-determination, world government—that bore little relevance to the tangled politics and even more tangled geography of postwar Europe. His idealism was soon drowned out by the revanchist passions of his allies.

—Kenneth Auchincloss

also : advocating or fighting for the recovery of lost territory or status

While revanchist emperors, such as Julian, were still mouthing the aristocratic ideology of imperialist aggression, more realistic rulers, like Constantius II, recognized that the future lay in accommodation with the so-called barbarians who had already infiltrated the heights of army and administration.

—C. R. Whittaker

revanchist

2 of 2

noun

rə-ˈväⁿ-shist 

plural revanchists

: one who advocates or fights for the recovery of lost territory or status : one who advocates a policy of revanche

In eastern and South-Eastern Europe today, one man's courageous defender of national self-determination is another's nostalgic revanchist.

—Tony Judt

Later in 2007, Pelosi plans to rewrite the laws on pork-barrel spending. She promises that the overall effect of her reforms will be "to break the link between lobbyists and legislation" in Washington. Who will win the coming battle between reformers and revanchists?

—Massimo Calabresi

Examples of revanchist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Whereas Biden sought to mend the nation’s racial divisions after the George Floyd protests, Trump built his revanchist second presidency on the demonization of diversity. —Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune, 20 June 2025

And how is any of this possible in an era of revanchist nationalism? —Literary Hub, 7 Jan. 2025

Hope: Ultimately, the protests suggest the possibility that, eventually, an overwhelming majority of Palestinians will never again allow themselves to be ruled by revanchist tyrants of any shade. —Bret Stephens, Mercury News, 4 Apr. 2025

But the Europeans didn’t really take the issue seriously until a revanchist Russian leader by the name of Vladimir Putin brought war back to the region. —Daniel Depetris, Twin Cities, 29 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1948, in the meaning defined above

Noun

1926, in the meaning defined above