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right wing

right wing

76 3.8
People who support conservative political, social, and economic ideas and little change
  • noun
  • /raɪt wɪŋ/
translation icon : ala derecha
  • The right wing of the political party supports traditional values and minimal change.
  • a right wing party
  • the extreme right wing
  • a right wing group

This is a nuance that the right wing doesn't understand.

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Examples

  • Ultimately, he lost both public support and the backing of the right wing of the Republican Party.

    Academic text (1990)
  • So some people have labeled you, Lawrence, a right wing conspiracy theorist.

  • Of course the right wing is on Team Trump.

  • We hear so much about values, particularly family values, from the right wing.

    Academic text (2002)
  • Do you think Trump and this right wing populism is here to stay?

  • Because the conservative white right wing of America is trying to take us back to the '50s.

  • Both men just happen to be Catholic, but that wasn't relevant as far as the right wing was concerned.

    Academic text (2007)
  • The definition of socialism, as the U.S. right wing understands it, is a moving target.

    Blog text (4)
  • This is an ultra-right wing group of anti-Communist fanatics.

  • As Ayodhya has shown, the right wing is bigoted, communal, and exclusionary.

    Academic text (1995)

Synonyms

right
vsright wing
365 4.6

People or parties who support conservative views

is the more specific label for that whole supporting group
conservative
vsright wing
306 4.4

A person who does not want big changes and likes traditional values

is the political group of such supporters rather than an individual's attitude
right-winger
vsright wing
30 5.4

A person who supports conservative or traditional political ideas

is the name for the entire group rather than an individual
rightist
vsright wing
4 7.2

A person who supports conservative political ideas

is the broader term covering many supporters not one person

Antonyms

19 3.9

People or groups that support more social equality and government help

How Conservative

far-right
  • Literature
20 6.8
right wing
76 3.8
center
  • Literature
1 4.9

Surface Forms

right wing singular
right wings plural

Morphology

right + wing

The meaning is directly compositional from 'right' (conservative) + 'wing' (faction or branch), so a learner who knows those constituent senses can infer it denotes the conservative faction or group. This political compound is cross-linguistically common and follows a transparent formation pattern, making it immediately understandable to B1 learners who know the parts.

Etymology

One popular story says the term right wing comes from old political meetings, where people who wanted to keep things the same sat on the right side and made one wing of the room. That's why right wing now means people who are 'conservative'.