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Definition of patriot - 5 dictionary results
pa⋅tri⋅ot
[pey-tree-uh
t, -ot or, especially Brit., pa-tree-uh
t]
–noun
| 1. | a person who loves, supports, and defends his or her country and its interests with devotion. |
| 2. | a person who regards himself or herself as a defender, esp. of individual rights, against presumed interference by the federal government. |
| 3. | (initial capital letter ) Military. a U.S. Army antiaircraft missile with a range of 37 mi. (60 km) and a 200-lb. (90 kg) warhead, launched from a tracked vehicle with radar and computer guidance and fire control. |
Origin:
1590–1600; < MF patriote < LL patriōta < Gk patri
tēs fellow-countryman, lineage member
1590–1600; < MF patriote < LL patriōta < Gk patri
tēs fellow-countryman, lineage member
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To patriot
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Patriot
Pa"tri*ot\, n. [F. patriote; cf. Sp. patriota, It. patriotto; all fr. Gr. ? a fellow-countryman, fr. ? established by forefathers, fr. ? father. See Father.] One who loves his country, and zealously supports its authority and interests. --Bp. Hall. Such tears as patriots shaed for dying laws. --Pope.Patriot
Pa"tri*ot\, a. Becoming to a patriot; patriotic.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : patriot
Spanish:
patriota,
German:
der, *die Patriot(in),
Japanese:
愛国者
patriot
1596, "compatriot," from M.Fr. patriote (15c.), from L.L. patriota "fellow-countryman" (6c.), from Gk. patriotes "fellow countryman," from patrios "of one's fathers," patris "fatherland," from pater (gen. patros) "father," with -otes, suffix expressing state or condition. Meaning "loyal and disinterested supporter of one's country" is attested from 1605, but became an ironic term of ridicule or abuse from mid-18c. in England, so that Johnson, who at first defined it as "one whose ruling passion is the love of his country," in his fourth edition added, "It is sometimes used for a factious disturber of the government."
"The name of patriot had become [c.1744] a by-word of derision. Horace Walpole scarcely exaggerated when he said that ... the most popular declaration which a candidate could make on the hustings was that he had never been and never would be a patriot." [Macaulay, "Horace Walpole," 1833]Somewhat revived in ref. to resistance movements in overrun countries in WWII, it has usually had a positive sense in Amer.Eng., where the phony and rascally variety has been consigned to the word patrioteer (1928). Oriana Fallaci ["The Rage and the Pride," 2002] marvels that Americans, so fond of patriotic, (1757) patriot, and patriotism (1726), lack the root noun and are content to express the idea of patria by cumbersome compounds such as homeland. (Joyce, Shaw, and H.G. Wells all used patria as an Eng. word early 20c., but it failed to stick.)
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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