Paleoconservative

adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A political conservative who espouses paleoconservatism, opposing mass immigration, embracing states' rights and supporting cultural conservatism and social structures perceived to be traditional. US

    "In fact, the neoconservative Moynihan running in New York against the paleoconservative James Buckley was able to position himself as the proper heir to a New Deal liberal tradition that Moynihan had been vigorously criticizing for almost a decade."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Holding views associated with paleoconservatism. US

    "The first of Bannon's ten documentary film pamphlets, In the Face of Evil (2014), still followed a rather classic neoconservative narrative, albeit with a paleoconservative touch."

Example

More examples

"In fact, the neoconservative Moynihan running in New York against the paleoconservative James Buckley was able to position himself as the proper heir to a New Deal liberal tradition that Moynihan had been vigorously criticizing for almost a decade."

Etymology

From paleo- + conservative, by analogy with neoconservative.

Related phrases

More for "paleoconservative"

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.