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Wiktionary:Word of the day/2021/February 27

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Word of the day
for February 27
mugwump n (chiefly US, also attributively)
  1. (chiefly humorous) A (male) leader; an important (male) person.
  2. (politics)
    1. (historical) A member of the Republican Party who declined to support the party's nominee James G. Blaine (1830–1893) during the 1884 United States presidential election, believing him to be corrupt, and instead supported the Democratic Party's candidate Grover Cleveland (1837–1908).
    2. (by extension) A person who purports to stay aloof from party politics.
    3. (by extension) One who switches from supporting one political party to another, especially for personal benefit.
  3. (by extension, colloquial, somewhat derogatory) A person who stays neutral or non-committal; a fence sitter; also, a person who maintains an aloof and often self-important demeanour.

mugwump v (chiefly US)

  1. (intransitive) To behave like a mugwump.
  2. (intransitive) To purport to stay aloof and independent, especially from party politics.

The American political activist, author, and lawyer Ralph Nader was born on this day in 1934. He ran for President of the United States unsuccessfully four times, with the Green Party in 1996 and 2000, the Reform Party in 2004, and as an independent in 2008.

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