populist

See also: Populist

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Italic *poplos

Old Latin populus

Latin populus

Proto-Indo-European *-id-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti

Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō

Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)

Proto-Hellenic *-tās

Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs)

Ancient Greek -ῐστής (-ĭstḗs)bor.

Latin -istader.

Old French -istebor.

Middle English -ist

English -ist

English populist

From Latin populus + English -ist.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɒp.jʊ.lɪst/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
(General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑ.pjə.lɪst/
(Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔp.jʉ.lɪst/

Noun

populist (plural populists)

A person who advocates populism (a movement against ruling elites who are presumed not to act in the interests of the ordinary citizen).
- 2013 January 3, Luke Harding, Uki Goni, The Guardian‎^[1], archived from the original on 8 June 2023:
  Critics suggest that Fernández, an unashamed populist and nationalist, is seeking to deflect attention from social disharmony at home.
- 2022 March 8, Andrew Anthony, “Liberalism and Its Discontents by Francis Fukuyama review – a defence of liberalism… from a former neocon”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN, archived from the original on 13 July 2023:
  On top of all that, rightwing populists and leftwing progressives have made significant inroads into western politics.
- 2025 May 2, Endeavour, “Against Slopulism”, in Counter-Currents‎^[3], archived from the original on 21 June 2025:
  So as to not throw too much of the blame on American populists, the right in other Western countries is also guilty of adopting this crass and anti-intellectual brand of politics.
A politician who advocates specific policies just because they are popular.
A person who advocates democratic principles.

Derived terms

Translations

person who advocates populism

Armenian: պոպուլիստ (populist)
Catalan: populista m or f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 民粹主義者 / 民粹主义者 (míncuì zhǔyì zhě)
Czech: populista (cs) m
Danish: populist c
Esperanto: popolisto
Finnish: populisti (fi)
French: populiste (fr) m or f
Galician: populista m or f
German: Populist (de) m
Hebrew: פופוליסט m (populíst)
Hungarian: populista (hu)
Korean: 대중주의자(大衆主義者) (daejungjuuija), 포퓰리스트 (popyulliseuteu)
Latin: plebicola m
Portuguese: populista (pt) m or f
Spanish: populista m or f

politician who advocates policies just because they are popular

Albanian: populist m, populiste f
Arabic: شَعْبَوِيّ m (šaʕbawiyy), شَعْبَوِيَّة f (šaʕbawiyya)
Armenian: պոպուլիստ (populist)
Azerbaijani: populist
Belarusian: папулі́ст m (papulíst), папулі́стка f (papulístka)
Bulgarian: попули́ст m (populíst), попули́стка f (populístka)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 民粹主義者 / 民粹主义者, 平民主義者 / 平民主义者
Czech: populista (cs) m, populistka f
Danish: populist c
Dutch: populist (nl) m, populiste (nl) f
Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
Estonian: populist (et)
Finnish: populisti (fi)
French: populiste (fr) m or f
Georgian: პოპულისტი (ṗoṗulisṭi)
German: Populist (de) m, Populistin (de) f
Greek: λαϊκιστής (el) m (laïkistís), λαϊκίστρια (el) f (laïkístria)
Hebrew: פופוליסט m (populíst)
Hungarian: populista (hu)
Icelandic: popúlisti m
Irish: pobalóir m
Italian: populista (it) m or f
Japanese: ポピュリスト (popyurisuto)
Kazakh: халықшыл (xalyqşyl)
Korean: 포퓰리스트 (popyulliseuteu)
Kyrgyz: популист (populist)
Latvian: populists m, populiste f
Lithuanian: populistas m, populistė f
Macedonian: попули́ст m (populíst), попули́стка f (populístka)
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: популист (populist)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: populist m
Persian:
Iranian Persian: پوپولیسْت (popolist), عَوام‌گَرا (fa) (avâm-garâ)
Polish: populista (pl) m, populistka (pl) f
Portuguese: populista (pt) m or f
Romanian: populist m, populistă f
Russian: попули́ст (ru) m (populíst), попули́стка f (populístka)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: попу̀лист m

Latin: popùlist (sh) m
Slovak: populista m, populistka f
Slovene: populist m, populistka f
Spanish: populista m or f
Swedish: populist (sv) c
Tajik: популист (populist)
Thai: please add this translation if you can
Turkish: popülist (tr)
Ukrainian: популі́ст m (populíst), популі́стка f (populístka)
Uzbek: populist

person who advocates democratic principles

Chinese:
Mandarin: 人民黨員 / 人民党员 (rénmín dǎngyuán)
Czech: demokrat (cs) m
Finnish: demokraatti (fi)
Kazakh: халықшыл (xalyqşyl)
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: ардач (mn) (ardač)
Russian: наро́дник (ru) m (naródnik), наро́дница (ru) f (naródnica)
Ukrainian: народо́вець m (narodóvecʹ), наро́дник m (naródnyk), наро́дниця f (naródnycja)

Adjective

populist (comparative more populist, superlative most populist)

Democratic.
(of a political policy) Put forward just because it would be popular.
Of or pertaining to populism.
- 2026 February 13, Nathan Taylor Pemberton, “When Posting Becomes Its Own Style of Politics”, in The New York Times‎^[4], →ISSN, archived from the original on 14 February 2026:
  On the right, this can look like gleeful cruelty, sadistic memes, posts that “own the libs” or sensationalized claims about fraud and conspiracy. On the left, it could be social justice messaging, online identity politics or populist economic proposals to, say, tax the rich.

Synonyms

populistic

Translations

democratic

Finnish: demokraattinen (fi)
Hindi: जनवादी (janvādī)
Russian: наро́днический (ru) (naródničeskij)

put forward just because it would be popular

Arabic: شَعْبَوِيّ (šaʕbawiyy)
Belarusian: папулі́сцкі (papulíscki)
Czech: populistický (cs)
Finnish: populistinen (fi)
French: populiste (fr)
German: populistisch (de)
Hebrew: פופוליסטי m (populísti)
Hungarian: populista (hu)
Irish: pobalach
Persian:
Iranian Persian: عَوام‌گَرا (fa) (avâm-garâ)
Russian: попули́стский (ru) (populístskij)
Ukrainian: популі́стський (populístsʹkyj)

of or pertaining to populism

Belarusian: папулі́сцкі (papulíscki)
Finnish: populistinen (fi)
German: populistisch (de)
Hebrew: פופוליסטי m (populísti)
Hungarian: populista (hu)
Russian: попули́стский (ru) (populístskij), наро́днический (ru) (naródničeskij) (democratic)
Thai: ประชานิยม (bprà-chaa-ní-yom)
Ukrainian: популі́стський (populístsʹkyj)

Dutch

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˌpoːpyˈlɪst/
Audio: (file)
Hyphenation: po‧pu‧list

Noun

populist n (plural populisten, diminutive populistje n)

populist (advocate or supporter of political populism, asserting that elites are out of touch with the common people)
(derogatory) demagogue

Derived terms

populistisch

Related terms

populisme

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French populiste. By surface analysis, popul +‎ -ist.

Adjective

populist m or n (feminine singular populistă, masculine plural populiști, feminine/neuter plural populiste)

populist

Declension

Declension of *populist*
		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	populist		populistă	populiști	populiste
nominative- accusative	definite	populistul		populista	populiștii	populistele
genitive- dative	indefinite	populist		populiste	populiști	populiste
genitive- dative	definite	populistului		populistei	populiștilor	populistelor

Noun

populist m (plural populiști)

populist

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	populist	populistul	populiști	populiștii
genitive-dative	populist	populistului	populiști	populiștilor
vocative	populistule		populiștilor

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

popùlista (Bosnia, Serbia)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /popǔlist/
Hyphenation: po‧pu‧list

Noun

popùlist m anim (Cyrillic spelling попу̀лист)

(Croatia) populist

Declension

Declension of *populist*
	singular	plural
nominative	populist	populisti
genitive	populista	populista
dative	populistu	populistima
accusative	populista	populiste
vocative	populiste	populisti
locative	populistu	populistima
instrumental	populistom	populistima