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
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has played down the violence as the work of a small group of extremists.
—
Julia Frankel, Los Angeles Times, 25 Feb. 2026
The gorgeous, haunting animation allows the filmmakers to precisely recreate the Lebanese battlefield and grapple with the events that led to the infamous massacre of Palestinian refugees at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camp outside of Beirut at the hands of Lebanese Christian extremists.
—David Faris, TheWeek, 24 Feb. 2026
Conservatives will complain that Democratic Party leaders have often tolerated their own extremists.
—Tom Nichols, The Atlantic, 23 Feb. 2026
Of 57 deaths in France linked to violence among political groups between 1986 and 2017, all but five were caused by right-wing extremists, according to sociology professor Isabelle Sommier.
—Tim Lister, CNN Money, 21 Feb. 2026
The Boston field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is warning parents about the rise of online extremists targeting children.
—Louisa Moller, CBS News, 19 Feb. 2026
During the battles against IS, thousands of extremists and tens of thousands of women and children linked to them were taken to detention camps.
—ABC News, 16 Feb. 2026
More than 150 Christians were abducted from three churches in another part of Kaduna in January before being released this week while at least 160 people, mostly Muslims, were killed by Islamic extremists in Kwara state for refusing to be indoctrinated.
—Arkansas Online, 8 Feb. 2026
All of this may sound hopelessly naive when extremists celebrate brutality.
—Emily Chamlee-Wright, Washington Post, 6 Feb. 2026
Julia Frankel, Los Angeles Times, 25 Feb. 2026
The gorgeous, haunting animation allows the filmmakers to precisely recreate the Lebanese battlefield and grapple with the events that led to the infamous massacre of Palestinian refugees at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camp outside of Beirut at the hands of Lebanese Christian extremists.
—David Faris, TheWeek, 24 Feb. 2026
Conservatives will complain that Democratic Party leaders have often tolerated their own extremists.
—Tom Nichols, The Atlantic, 23 Feb. 2026
Of 57 deaths in France linked to violence among political groups between 1986 and 2017, all but five were caused by right-wing extremists, according to sociology professor Isabelle Sommier.
—Tim Lister, CNN Money, 21 Feb. 2026
The Boston field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is warning parents about the rise of online extremists targeting children.
—Louisa Moller, CBS News, 19 Feb. 2026
During the battles against IS, thousands of extremists and tens of thousands of women and children linked to them were taken to detention camps.
—ABC News, 16 Feb. 2026
More than 150 Christians were abducted from three churches in another part of Kaduna in January before being released this week while at least 160 people, mostly Muslims, were killed by Islamic extremists in Kwara state for refusing to be indoctrinated.
—Arkansas Online, 8 Feb. 2026
All of this may sound hopelessly naive when extremists celebrate brutality.
—Emily Chamlee-Wright, Washington Post, 6 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for extremists
Noun
-
Wonder women in American history Who were most transformative female organizers, creators, activists, innovators, revolutionaries and trailblazers in American history?—
Phaedra Trethan,
USA Today,
13 Feb. 2026
-
With that mental reframing, the American (and then French and other) revolutionaries changed not just their own country, but the world.—
Andreas Kluth,
Mercury News,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Berets were fashionable among radicals and the very old.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
18 Feb. 2026
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Wood argues that colleges are not only staffed with a disproportionate number of radicals who indoctrinate the students but also have turned everything from dormitory management to the dining halls over to the left.—
Jay Caspian Kang,
New Yorker,
17 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Extremists.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/extremists. Accessed 28 Feb. 2026.
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