as in nationalist
one who shows excessive favoritism towards his or her country
a newspaper columnist who never manages to be anything other than a knee-jerk flag-waver
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Recent Examples of flag-waver
Onstage at this month’s AmericaFest, the annual conference hosted by Kirk’s organization Turning Point, Aldean and his wife, Brittany, spoke openly about their role as country-music flag-wavers for the MAGA movement.
—
Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone, 30 Dec. 2025
For those two groups to get in not just over Carey and O’Connor, but more traditional rock and roll flag-wavers like Oasis and Lenny Kravitz, is also something of a shock.
—Andrew Unterberger, Billboard, 3 Sep. 2019
Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone, 30 Dec. 2025
For those two groups to get in not just over Carey and O’Connor, but more traditional rock and roll flag-wavers like Oasis and Lenny Kravitz, is also something of a shock.
—Andrew Unterberger, Billboard, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for flag-waver
nationalist
Noun
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House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, displays a historic flag outside his office on Capitol Hill that in recent years has been embraced by Christian nationalists.—
Hillary Rodham Clinton,
The Atlantic,
29 Jan. 2026
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And also to warn about bloodshed if civil war follows regime change, bloodshed between nationalists and those who’ve had enough of being tied to a constantly unstable country.—
Melik Kaylan,
Forbes.com,
22 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Flag-waver.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flag-waver. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
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