centrist

Etymology

Most dictionaries take it as borrowed from French centriste,^[2][3][4][5] from centre, from Latin centrum.^[3][2] The OED instead treats it as formed in English from centre in its political sense and the suffix -ist, noting that the early English uses about France have no parallel in French sources of the time.^[6] Merriam-Webster also analyses it as centr- plus the same suffix.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A member of a party of the political centre: 1872, in the Daily News,^[6] originally with reference to French politics.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The word first described French deputies who sat in the middle of the chamber;^[2][4] Etymonline quotes an 1872 description of the "weak-kneed congregation" who called themselves Centrists.^[2] From 1886 it was also used of members of the German Centre Party, the Catholic party founded in 1870,^[6] and by 1889 it had become a general term for anyone of moderate politics.^[2] The adjective is recorded from 1874.^[6] Merriam-Webster notes that the noun is often capitalized when it names a member of a centre party.^[7]

Timeline

• 1872 – noun, a member of a French centre party; a political moderate.^[6][2]
• 1874 – adjective, of the political centre.^[6]
• 1886 – of a member of the German Centre Party.^[6]
• 1889 – used generally of moderates in any country's politics.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person whose political views lie between those of the left and the right; a moderate.^[8][7][6]
2. A member of a party of the political centre.^[7][4]

Adjective

1. Of or relating to the centre of politics; politically moderate: a centrist candidate.^[6][4]

Word family

• centrism

Related words

• center

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins