patriot

      See also Patriot

      English

      Etymology

      From the Middle French compatriot around 1600, from Late Latin patriōta (fellow countryman) from the Ancient Greek πατριώτης (patriotēs, of the same country), from πατρίς (patris, father land", "country), from πατήρ (pater, father).

      Pronunciation

      • (UK) IPA: /ˈpæt.ɹi.ət/, /ˈpeɪ.tɹi.ət/, X-SAMPA: /"p{t.ri:.@t/, /"peI.tri.@t/
      • (US) IPA: /ˈpeɪ.tɹi.ət/, X-SAMPA: /"peI.tri.@t/

      Noun

      patriot (plural patriots)

      1. A person who loves and zealously supports and defends their country.
        • Alexander Pope
          Such tears as patriots shed for dying laws.
        • 1901, G. K. Chesterton, The Defendant, page 166:
          “My country, right or wrong”, is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying, “My mother, drunk or sober”.
        • 1953, Sydney J. Harris, “Purely Personal Prejudices”, in Strictly Personal[1], Regnery, page 228:
          The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility, but the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to war.
      2. (archaic) A fellow countryman, a compatriot.
        • (Can we find and add a quotation of J. S. Mill's On Liberty to this entry?)

      Derived terms

      Translations

      References


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      Dutch

      Noun

      patriot m (plural patriotten, diminutive patriotje)

      1. patriot

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      Serbo-Croatian

      Noun

      patrìot m (Cyrillic spelling патрѝот)

      1. patriot

      Declension

      Synonyms

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      Last modified on 17 June 2013, at 19:39