as in conservativeness
attitudes or opinions tending to favor established ideas, conditions, or institutions
the state's well-known conservatism means that progressive legislation always has an uphill battle
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Recent Examples of conservatism
On the heels of a nationwide shift toward conservatism in 2024 — and at a time when Republicans continued to hold control over all three branches of the federal government — Mamdani delivered some hope to progressives that tides could change before the 2026 midterms.
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Kyler Alvord, PEOPLE, 31 Dec. 2025
Campbell served three House terms and two Senate terms, known for unconventional dress and championing Native American rights, children’s causes, and fiscal conservatism.
—Los Angeles Times, 31 Dec. 2025
According to the ideological-innocence theory, which has been widely influential in political science since the Sixties, most Americans are not ideological, being unable to coherently reconstruct or affirm the orthodoxies of conservatism or liberalism in surveys.
—Jason Blakely, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
China is known for deep conservatism in archaeological decision-making, particularly with politically symbolic sites.
—Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 25 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for conservatism
Cite this Entry
“Conservatism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/conservatism. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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