partisan
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
A fervent and even militant proponent of something.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
pahrtuhzuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpɑɹtəzən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A fervent and even militant proponent of something
A fervent, sometimes militant, supporter or proponent of a party, cause, faction, person, or idea.
An adherent to a party or faction.
A member of a band of detached light, irregular troops acting behind occupying enemy lines in the ways of harassment or sabotage; a guerrilla fighter.
adjective
Devoted to or biased in support of a party, group, or cause.
Adherent to a party or faction; especially, having the character of blind, passionate, or unreasonable adherence to a party.
Serving as commander or member of a body of detached light troops.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A fervent and even militant proponent of something
Used this way, partisan is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use partisan
- “He was a partisan supporter of his team, always cheering loudly for them.”noun
Share your sentence
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “partisan” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.