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Glite Dictionary
🧳 A travel bag 🕴️ An outsider
carpetbag

carpetbag

9.9
An outsider who moves to a place to get power or money without local ties
  • adjective
  • /ˈkɑːrpɪtbæɡ/
  • Offensive
translation icon : oportunista (despectivo)
  • Voters were wary of the carpetbag candidate who had just moved into the district.

Examples

  • The senator was accused of being a carpetbag politician with no real ties to the state.

  • The carpetbag politician promised change but had no local support.

  • Historically, carpetbag opportunists arrived in towns after wars or upheavals.

  • Many saw her as a carpetbag who only cared about her own interests.

  • The senator was accused of being a carpetbag politician with no real ties to the state.

  • Voters were wary of the carpetbag candidate who had just moved into the district.

  • Historically, carpetbag opportunists arrived in towns after wars or upheavals.

Antonyms

local
197 1.2

A person who lives in a particular area or community

Surface Forms

carpetbag positive

Morphology

carpetbag = carpet + bag (opaque) = carpet + bag

The word is historically a compound of 'carpet' and 'bag', but the outsider/opportunist political sense is a specialized extension that is not directly predictable from the parts.

Etymology

The word carpetbag also came to mean an outsider who seeks quick advantage. After the American Civil War, people from outside arrived carrying simple carpet bags and were seen as 'outsiders' looking for 'personal gain', so carpetbag began to mean someone who moves into a place to get money or power without local ties.