populism

noun

pop·​u·​lism ˈpä-pyə-ˌli-zəm 

plural populisms

1

: a political philosophy or movement that represents or is claimed to represent the interests of ordinary people especially against the Establishment (see establishment sense 2a)

Populism usually arises from a general discontent. … People feel that things are out of control, socially and economically. … The idea that this is the fault of the meritocratic elite is an easy sell.

—Nicholas Lemann

… anti-government populism is beginning to give way to the more classic, anti-corporate populism …

—Leslie Savan

… Elizabeth Warren summoned the familiar and fiery spirits of Democratic populism. "Our job is to fight for the families of America," the Massachusetts Senator yelled over applause. … "Stitch up the tax loopholes so that millionaires and billionaires pay at the same tax rate as the people in this room."

—Jay Newton-Small

There are few things more terrifying than demagogic populism, sharpened dangerously into authoritarian rule, with minorities left at the mercy of those now in charge of writing and enforcing the laws.

—George Takei

The move comes amid a rise in economic populism in the GOP, Republican strategist John Feehery told the Washington Examiner. Even as the party writ large is generally supportive of the business community, an insurgent crop of Republican lawmakers is pursuing a more working-class-friendly agenda …

—Samantha-Jo Roth

sometimes, specifically : the political and economic doctrines advocated by the Populists (see populist entry 1 sense 1b)

… the nativist populism of the 1890s, the political and social movement of poor and dispossessed farmers who saw the source of their plight as the controllers of money and the rule of gold …

—Daniel Bell

2

: general concern for ordinary people

… a profile of James Brown in Look, in February of 1969. The article celebrated Mr. Brown's business empire … and his populism (traveling a hundred thousand miles a year to reach three million fans where they lived; capping ticket prices at five dollars for adults and ninety-nine cents for children under twelve) …

—Philip Gourevitch

Examples of populism in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Democrats under Trump, and then again under Biden, were becoming more radical on social issues while in good part rejecting the economic populism that made Sanders so popular in 2015. —Alexander Nazaryan, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 21 Mar. 2025

Maybe this latest swivel in sensibility, back toward a kind of crowd-pleasing populism, necessitates the emergence of a new male archetype: Mr. Hurt but Good. —Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 17 Mar. 2025

Easier leasing on federal lands occurs when Republicans are in office, on the other hand, Republican governors in California and Florida have typically sided with opponents of offshore drilling, not out of conviction but populism. —Michael Lynch, Forbes, 14 Mar. 2025

Neither woke progressivism nor MAGA populism are terms that would be familiar to Hamilton, Jefferson, Partridge, Thayer, or Jackson. —Ryan Shaw / Made By History, TIME, 24 Feb. 2025

Yet the forces that are pushing Western democracies toward populism are here, too – and in some respects, even stronger. —Mark Sappenfield, The Christian Science Monitor, 20 Feb. 2025

Movements like populism, which want to make culture this monolithic gray thing, are so scary. —Anthony Byrt, Artforum, 1 Mar. 2025

Again populism that drove the first Trump Administration. —Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 26 Feb. 2025

Neither country was ever ripe for populism: the politics of envy, us-against-them. —Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 25 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

probably from popul(ist) entry 1 + -ism

First Known Use

1891, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for populism

• autism
• fascism
• racism
• sikhism
• statism
• sufism
• thomism
• tourism
• tropism
• abolitionism
• aldosteronism
• americanism