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
The emergence of Laufey, the Icelandic-Chinese singer-songwriter who has become one Gen Z’s chief flag-waver for throwback pop, is largely attributable to her abundant talent.
—
Maura Johnston, Rolling Stone, 21 Aug. 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
Maura Johnston, Rolling Stone, 21 Aug. 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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Putin is also a strong nationalist.—
Kerry Brown,
Time,
4 Sep. 2025
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By the time that war in East Asia took hold, in 1937, China was a decade into its own civil war between the nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong’s communists.—
Meredith Oyen,
The Conversation,
2 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Flag-waver.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flag-waver. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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