Republican

Republican (comparative more Republican, superlative most Republican)

1. (US politics) Of or pertaining to the Republican Party of the United States.

   Coordinate terms: Democratic, Green, Libertarian

   There are Libertarian, Republican and Democratic nominees running for office right now.

2. Of or pertaining to the Republic of China's tenure on the Chinese mainland (1912-1949).
3. Alternative letter-case form of republican.

Republican (plural Republicans)

1. (US politics) A member or supporter of the Republican Party, the more right-wing of the two main political parties in the United States.

   Coordinate terms: Democrat, Green, Libertarian, Independent

   • 1998 November 27, Danita Jones, “Sabrina and the Beast”, in Sabrina the Teenage Witch, season 3, episode 1, spoken by Sabrina Spellman (Beth Broderick as Zelda Spellman and Melissa Joan Hart), Paramount Domestic Television, via ABC:

     Famine, pestilence, war… War! I like it!
     When did you become a Republican.

   • 2000 October 3, Tim Paluch, “Gore vs. Bush: That's Debatable”, in Iowa State Daily:

     At one point in the debate, the moderator asked a tough question that had the candidates stumped.
     Moderator: "This question is for both of the candidates. Those ever-important independent voters who haven’t decided who to vote for would like to know what the real differences between you two are."
     Gore: "I think the real difference between Governor Bush and I is that he is in fact a Republican, and I am currently a Democrat."
     Moderator: "That doesn’t really answer the question, I am talking about issues."
     Bush: "No, he is right. I am a Republican, and he is a Democrat."

2. (British, Ireland) An Irish nationalist; a proponent of a united Ireland.
3. (chiefly Ireland, now rare) A member or supporter of Fianna Fáil, a centre-right party in Ireland.
   • 1970, The Republic of Ireland: an hypothesis in eight chapters and two intermissions:

     It was confident both that the Republicans would never put it out to put Cosgrave in, and that Fine Gael was equally against the Republicans.

4. (historical) A supporter of the government or left-wing side in the Spanish Civil War.
5. A member of Les Républicains, a right-wing party in France.
6. A member of Die Republikaner, a far-right party in Germany.

• (Member or supporter of the US Republican Party): Republicunt, Retardican, Rethuglican (all vulgar, derogatory); see also Fascist (inexact, derogatory)