Jacobin

Jac·o·bin  (jk-bn)

n.

1. A radical or extreme leftist.

2. A radical republican during the French Revolution.

3. A Dominican friar.

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[Middle English, Dominican friar, from French, from Old French (frere) jacobin (translation of Medieval Latin (frter) Iacbnus, Jacobinic brother, from Iacbus, James, after the church of Saint Jacques in Paris, near which the friars built their first convent). Sense 2, from the fact that the Jacobins first met in the convent.]

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Jaco·binic, Jaco·bini·cal adj.

Jaco·bin·ism n.

Jaco·bin·ize (-b-nz) v.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

Jacobin - a member of the radical movement that instituted the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution terrorist - a radical who employs terror as a political weapon; usually organizes with other terrorists in small cells; often uses religion as a cover for terrorist activities