1,400 new words in our dictionary! — Parasocial, glow-up, promposal & more
1,400 new words in our dictionary! — More

extremism

noun

Definition of extremismnext
as in excessiveness
belief in and support for ideas that are very far from what most people consider correct or reasonable political extremism

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of extremism However, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said Friday that the acts were believed to have been committed by a single activist in connection with climate extremism. — ABC News, 8 Sep. 2026 HOPE Not Hate, a British advocacy group that opposes far-right extremism, has been tracking Patriot Platform. — Kara Fox, CNN Money, 7 Sep. 2026 The party has pushed back on accusations of extremism as politically motivated. — Landon Mion, FOXNews.com, 7 Sep. 2026 For much of the first two decades of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s time in office, the reigning model of state security was fighting terrorism and extremism. — Andrei Soldatov, Foreign Affairs, 31 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for extremism
Recent Examples of Synonyms for extremism
  1. excessiveness
  2. excess
  3. radicalism
  4. irrationality
  5. unreasonableness
Noun
  • The excessiveness of Ken Russell, Joe Coleman, Tasha Tudor, clowns, migraines, Priscilla Presley, and the Winchester Mystery House.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Sep. 2026
  • This excessiveness can hinder critical knowledge building because of the sheer amount of information that can be accessed simultaneously at any time.
    — Carmen Daniela Maier, Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 May 2026
Definition of excessiveness
Noun
  • In Lois Lowry’s dystopian novel The Giver, a world of human complexity has been flattened deliberately to remove the inconvenient excesses of emotion and feeling.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 22 Sep. 2026
  • At the exact same time, young, upstart groups like the Ramones and the Clash were forming in response to the corporatization of rock, the bloated egos of its biggest stars, and the excesses of prog with the back-to-basics minimalism of punk.
    — Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of excess
Noun
  • The following year she was elected to the Italian parliament for the maverick Radical Party, a bastion of anticlericalism, civil libertarianism, feminism, liberalism and radicalism in Italy.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Or Pablo Picasso, goaded into radicalism by the latest bizarre creations of Matisse, retreating to the Spanish mountain village of Gósol and, mere months later, beginning work on his proto-cubist masterpiece, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.
    — Sebastian Smee, The Atlantic, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of radicalism
Noun
  • In other words, emotion, empathy and irrationality could be seen as some of the most powerful counterweights to AI.
    — Billy J. Stratton, The Conversation, 21 Aug. 2026
  • This is where the irrationality of antisemitic conspiracy gains no purchase among a reasoning and pragmatic populace; where government is led by people who grasp, and embrace, the seriousness of their responsibilities.
    — Rory Lancman, New York Daily News, 5 Aug. 2026
Definition of irrationality
Noun
  • If the assassination made the President a Christlike figure, his forbearance in the face of a wife’s unreasonableness provides him with an extra measure of purity.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 21 May 2026
Definition of unreasonableness

Browse Nearby Words

extremes
extremism
extremist
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Extremism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/extremism. Accessed 27 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of bellwether

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 25
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
image of the words cracker fly and sale arranged in a triangle with the word fire in the middle
Triple Play Quiz Find the word that pairs with each of the three g...
See All