partisanship

noun

ˈpär-tə-zən-ˌship How to pronounce partisanship (audio)
Definition of partisanshipnext
1
as in bias
an attitude that always favors one way of feeling or acting especially without considering any other possibilities partisanship can discourage any serious search for the truth

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in bigotry
stubborn or intolerant adherence to one's opinions or prejudices there's a pervasive partisanship in the company that prevents it from acknowledging that other companies are outpacing it with innovative ideas

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 partisanship On Monday, Kiley called those results historical and a sign that voters in the district are rejecting partisanship. — Mathew Miranda june 23, Sacbee.com, 23 June 2026 The higher the stakes, the lower the standards Polarization and negative partisanship are not the only factors at work. — Charlie Hunt, The Conversation, 18 June 2026 Peters had asked about partisanship in granting major disaster declarations. — Los Angeles Times, 17 June 2026 The watchdog noted that the program hasn’t been so close to insolvency since 1983, when President Ronald Reagan and Speaker Tip O’Neill famously put partisanship aside to safeguard the program—until now. — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 17 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for partisanship
Recent Examples of Synonyms for partisanship
  1. bias
  2. bigotry
  3. prejudice
  4. dogmatism
  5. partiality
  6. intolerance
  7. illiberalism
  8. small-mindedness
Noun
  • Other research suggests body camera footage can accentuate racial bias by the viewer against people with dark complexions.
    — Sarah Matusek, Christian Science Monitor, 23 July 2026
  • But even LLMs like ChatGPT or Claude can help identify biases.
    — Aytekin Tank, Forbes.com, 23 July 2026
Definition of bias
Noun
  • The wall of xenophobia and bigotry, turned on its side, can be a table.
    — Josh Fox, IndieWire, 17 July 2026
  • That makes her villainous status even harder to shed, as many players and media members seemingly wear their bigotry toward her as a badge of honor.
    — Bobby Burack OutKick, FOXNews.com, 13 July 2026
Definition of bigotry
Noun
  • In the District of Columbia, federal Judge Ana Reyes said comments from Noem about Haitians showed prejudice.
    — Jay Weaver July 22, Miami Herald, 22 July 2026
  • An alleged child-abuse drama which cleverly plays with audiences own sense of prejudice, the work is hailed in its native Catalonia as a modern Catalan classic.
    — John Hopewell, Variety, 21 July 2026
Definition of prejudice
Noun
  • When authenticity becomes uncompromising, candor turns belligerent, consistency becomes rigid, or principled decision-making morphs into dogmatism, even the best intentions can backfire.
    — Mary Crossan, Forbes.com, 23 June 2026
  • By staying so close to black metal’s core sound, Marchenko does more to undermine the dogmatism—both racial and aesthetic—of Vikernes and his ilk than a more obviously experimental project might.
    — Sadie Sartini Garner, Pitchfork, 31 Mar. 2026
Definition of dogmatism
Noun
  • For instance, traditional print outlets value such tenets as balance, impartiality, gatekeeping, and prepublication verification, whereas digital products often emphasize immediacy, transparency, partiality, and postpublication correction.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 May 2026
  • Schumer's partiality to a classic one-piece is well-documented.
    — Meg Walters, InStyle, 3 Apr. 2026
Definition of partiality
Noun
  • Across the country, incidents of religious intolerance are rising.
    — Scott Ehrlich, Sun Sentinel, 16 July 2026
  • The response to a culture of intolerance by students and faculty, however, should not be official intolerance by the state.
    — David Cole, The New York Review of Books, 12 July 2026
Definition of intolerance
Noun
  • Resorting to violence merely strengthens the forces of illiberalism and sense of disorder upon which Trumpism feeds.
    — Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic, 28 Apr. 2026
  • The signal predicament of our era is the global rise of illiberalism and intolerance.
    — Christopher Beha, New Yorker, 14 Feb. 2026
Definition of illiberalism
Noun
  • The show gestures at the classic targets of old-timey sexism, small-mindedness, and nativism—much of it embodied by Gasteyer’s scheming character—but only in the safest possible ways.
    — Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 21 Apr. 2026
Definition of small-mindedness

Browse Nearby Words

partisans
partisanship
partition
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Partisanship.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/partisanship. Accessed 24 Jul. 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 itinerant

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Democracy or Republic: What's the difference?

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

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

Do you 'say your piece' or 'say your peace'?

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

The Words of the Week - Jul 24

Why do we say 'fly off the handle'?
See More

Popular

See More

Democracy or Republic: What's the difference?

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List
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
chain-question-mark
Missing Link Quiz July 2026 Five seconds to figure out the word that fits bot...
See All