conservatism

Etymology

It is formed from English conservative + -ism,^[2][3][4][5] or, as the OED analyses it, from the stem of conservative and -ism;^[6] Klein calls it short for conservativism.^[7] The OED records conservatist slightly earlier and conservativism slightly later.^[6] The adjective is from Old French conservatif, from Medieval Latin cōnservātīvus, from cōnservātus, the past participle of cōnservō (“to keep, preserve”),^[2][6] formed from com- and servō (“to keep watch, maintain”), from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to protect”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The holding of conservative principles, the tendency to resist great or sudden change: 1832, in a heading in the “Stockport Advertiser”; the same year “The Times” used it for the doctrine of the Conservative Party.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word arose with the British party name: Conservative first appeared for a political faction in an 1830 issue of the “Quarterly Review”, and replaced the older name Tory by 1843.^[2] Etymonline and the first edition of the OED date conservatism to 1835, as a term of British politics, and Etymonline dates the general sense, a disposition to keep the established order and distrust innovation, to 1838;^[2][8] the revised OED has both senses from 1832.^[6][9] Etymonline traces the political tradition to Edmund Burke's opposition to the French Revolution (1790), though the word conservative is not found in his writings; his French followers coined it, among them Chateaubriand, whose journal was called “Le Conservateur”.^[2] The OED compares French conservateur, used for preserving order from 1795 and for opposing innovation from 1815.^[6] In biology the word has meant the tendency to resist evolutionary change since 1902.^[6]

Timeline

• 1830 – Conservative first used as the name of a British political faction.^[2]
• 1832 – the holding of conservative principles; the doctrine of the Conservative Party.^[6]
• 1835 – Etymonline's and the first OED's date for the political sense.^[2][8]
• 1838 – conservative principles in general, wariness of change.^[2]
• 1902 – in biology, resistance to evolutionary change.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The inclination, especially in politics, to keep the existing or traditional order and to resist sudden change.^[10][3][11]
2. A political philosophy that values tradition, established institutions and social stability and prefers gradual development to abrupt change.^[10][3][12]
3. (often capitalized) The principles and policies of a Conservative Party, as in Britain or Canada.^[10][11][6]
4. Caution or moderation in behaviour or outlook; reluctance to make changes: the conservatism of his investment choices.^[10][12][4]
5. (biology) The tendency to resist evolutionary change.^[6]

Word family

• hyperconservatism
• neoconservatism
• overconservatism

Related words

• conserve
• conservation
• conservationist
• conservative
• conservator
• conservatory
• preserve

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b 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 j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
10. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster