RADICALS Synonyms: 30 Similar and Opposite Words

radicals

noun

plural of radical

as in revolutionaries

a person who favors rapid and sweeping changes especially in laws and methods of government radicals staged large, violent protests in the hopes of toppling the government

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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 radicals For every cultural good, identity has become fused with the object of interest, turning previously normal people leading unremarkable lives into Steak ’n Shake beef-tallow purists, Harry Potter moralists, or cast-iron-pan-cleaning radicals. —

Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 31 Mar. 2026 Now some Republicans are depicting the No Kings movement as a band of radicals, out of step with mainstream political opinion. —

Susan Page, USA Today, 29 Mar. 2026 The convergence of Abundance centrists and conservative environmentalists would seem to belie the ACC’s assertion that the environmental movement is dominated by radicals who would rather sabotage the American economy than accept any of the compromises necessary to achieve a prosperous future. —

Gaby Del Valle, Harpers Magazine, 24 Mar. 2026 Berets were fashionable among radicals and the very old. —

Literary Hub, 18 Feb. 2026 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 Father Ed and Bishop Rob Hirschfeld aren’t political radicals. —

Ernesto Burden, Washington Post, 9 Feb. 2026 She was abducted from UC Berkeley by a small cadre of Bay Area militant radicals, who demanded her family pay to feed the poor en masse. —

Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, 6 Feb. 2026 The problem is the unhinged reaction to ICE’s presence by leftist radicals who have a lot in common with your average anarchist. —

Chris Roemer, Baltimore Sun, 22 Jan. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for radicals

Noun

These works follow aging revolutionaries who have given up the fight after being forced into hiding or choosing to raise a family; some have simply grown tired of the struggle.

— Boris Kachka, The Atlantic, 3 Apr. 2026
The idea that one generation could not determine the political future of the next was precisely what many revolutionaries, despite their internal differences, had fought against.

— Roxane Razavi, The Conversation, 2 Apr. 2026