Jacobin definition
A radical or extreme leftist.
noun
Any member of a society of radical democrats in France during the Revolution of 1789: their meetings were held in the Jacobin friars' convent.
noun
An extreme political radical.
noun
A Dominican friar.
noun
Of the Jacobins or their policies.
adjective
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A radical republican during the French Revolution.
noun
A French Dominican friar: the Dominicans were established in a convent at the Church of St. Jacques in Paris.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun
Singular:
jacobin
Plural:
jacobinsOrigin of jacobin
- Middle English Dominican friar from French from Old French (frere) jacobin (translation of Medieval Latin (frāter) Iacōbīnus Jacobinic brother) (from Iacōbus 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
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition