as in revolutionaries
a person who favors rapid and sweeping changes especially in laws and methods of government
extremists wanted to do away with everything, even though they had no thought-out plan for what to do afterwards
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Recent Examples of extremists
Opportunists like the daycare group, which was selling weapons, and extremists — not the hobbyists.
—
Jack Crosbie, Rolling Stone, 17 June 2026
Many of these decisions were made so Netanyahu could retain the support of the far-right extremists keeping him in power and avoid a possible jail sentence on corruption charges.
—Thomas L. Friedman, Mercury News, 16 June 2026
More recently, the Department of Justice charged the Southern Poverty Law Center — a civil rights nonprofit accused by Republicans of targeting conservatives in its work tracking extremists — with defrauding donors through payments to informants.
—James Pollard, Los Angeles Times, 15 June 2026
Also on Wednesday, FBI Director Kash Patel warned that the World Cup matches could be targets for extremists.
—ABC News, 11 June 2026
Increasingly, however, that tent seems to have room for radicals and ideological extremists while pushing out Democrats who think independently.
—Doug Friednash, Denver Post, 3 June 2026
And when Khomeini broke that promise, my father was one of the first to stand up to him and the extremists who hijacked that revolution.
—Letters To The Editor, Washington Post, 2 June 2026
But Raman’s walked quite the tightrope of being a DSA’er who talks like a back-to-basics liberal while also hanging out with left-wing extremists like Hasan Piker.
—Sal Rodriguez, Daily News, 28 May 2026
Earlier this month, Trump’s counterterrorism czar, Sebastian Gorka, released a public counterterrorism strategy claiming that left-wing extremists are one of the three top counterterrorism priorities facing the United States.
—Daniel Boguslaw, ArsTechnica, 27 May 2026
Jack Crosbie, Rolling Stone, 17 June 2026
Many of these decisions were made so Netanyahu could retain the support of the far-right extremists keeping him in power and avoid a possible jail sentence on corruption charges.
—Thomas L. Friedman, Mercury News, 16 June 2026
More recently, the Department of Justice charged the Southern Poverty Law Center — a civil rights nonprofit accused by Republicans of targeting conservatives in its work tracking extremists — with defrauding donors through payments to informants.
—James Pollard, Los Angeles Times, 15 June 2026
Also on Wednesday, FBI Director Kash Patel warned that the World Cup matches could be targets for extremists.
—ABC News, 11 June 2026
Increasingly, however, that tent seems to have room for radicals and ideological extremists while pushing out Democrats who think independently.
—Doug Friednash, Denver Post, 3 June 2026
And when Khomeini broke that promise, my father was one of the first to stand up to him and the extremists who hijacked that revolution.
—Letters To The Editor, Washington Post, 2 June 2026
But Raman’s walked quite the tightrope of being a DSA’er who talks like a back-to-basics liberal while also hanging out with left-wing extremists like Hasan Piker.
—Sal Rodriguez, Daily News, 28 May 2026
Earlier this month, Trump’s counterterrorism czar, Sebastian Gorka, released a public counterterrorism strategy claiming that left-wing extremists are one of the three top counterterrorism priorities facing the United States.
—Daniel Boguslaw, ArsTechnica, 27 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for extremists
Noun
-
Some imagery on the shirt, depicting Haitian revolutionaries from the early 1800s, was declared political and therefore not allowed, having fallen foul of FIFA’s often quite stringent rules around kits at World Cups.—
Nick Miller,
New York Times,
17 June 2026
-
Both then and now, targeting revolutionaries like Dessalines has supported that goal.—
Julia Gaffield,
The Conversation,
15 June 2026
Noun
-
The actor got his start on Family Ties, an '80s sitcom about the Keaton family, whose matriarch and patriarch were once 1960s radicals now attempting to raise their Reagan-era children in suburbia.—
Rebecca Aizin,
PEOPLE,
9 June 2026
-
Increasingly, however, that tent seems to have room for radicals and ideological extremists while pushing out Democrats who think independently.—
Doug Friednash,
Denver Post,
3 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Extremists.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/extremists. Accessed 21 Jun. 2026.
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