Orthogonian
adj, noun
adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A member of the Orthogonian society, a social club at Whittier College founded by Richard M. Nixon in opposition to the wealthy elites at Whittier.
"Orthogonians, like Nixon, saw themselves as hardworking "regular" people fighting against a powerful elite (personified by the Franklins) for status and wealth."
Adjective
- 1 Pertaining to or characteristic of the Orthogonian society and its ethos of appealing to working-class values and opposition to a wealthy ruling elite.
"Nixon would employ the same Orthogonian politics in his adult career."
Example
More examples"Orthogonians, like Nixon, saw themselves as hardworking "regular" people fighting against a powerful elite (personified by the Franklins) for status and wealth."
Etymology
Coined by Richard M. Nixon in 1930 from Ancient Greek ὀρθός (orthós, “straight”), Ancient Greek γωνία (gōnía, “corner, angle”), + -ian, to mean "straight shooter".
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.