How to Use populist in a Sentence

populist

1 of 2 noun
  • Frank’s Truman is a populist in the best sense of the word: not a demagogue but a true man of the people.
    Beverly Gage, The New Yorker, 7 Mar. 2022
  • Bolsonaro is a right-wing populist who took office in 2019.
    Devika Rao, The Week, 1 Oct. 2022
  • Bukele, a right-wing populist who rose to power in 2019, announced the plan to start using bitcoin in June.
    Merlin Delcid, CNN, 6 Sep. 2021
  • Trump’s victory in Iowa and the rise of populists in Europe suggest as much.
    Peter Vanham, Fortune, 17 Jan. 2024
  • Gerwig at her best has a true populist feel for how to give the audience pleasure.
    Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, 20 July 2023
  • Now, with his approval ratings in steep decline, the far-right populist is again revving up the culture wars.
    Los Angeles Times, 29 Mar. 2022
  • The silver-haired populist is trying to reverse course.
    David Luhnow, WSJ, 4 June 2021
  • The incumbent is a far-right populist, while Lula is a leftist.
    Catherine Garcia, The Week, 3 Oct. 2022
  • However, Page is more the populist pick this year and O'Connor the insider favorite.
    Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 16 Sep. 2021
  • In response, Bolsonaro has turned to his populist playbook by trying to stir up his base.
    Kenneth Rapoza, Forbes, 30 May 2021
  • The brash language is not unusual for Duterte, a tough-talking populist who is most known for a bloody war on drugs that has left thousands dead.
    Washington Post, 22 June 2021
  • Macron faces a formidable challenge from the populist right in elections next year.
    BostonGlobe.com, 12 June 2021
  • The right-wing populist has cut fuel taxes to reduce prices at the pump and sent monthly cash transfers to poor families.
    Paulina Villegas, Washington Post, 13 Sep. 2022
  • Bolsonaro, a right-wing populist who won the presidential election in 2018, has long been compared to Trump.
    BostonGlobe.com, 9 Sep. 2021
  • Elsewhere, right-wing populists are making inroads with a tough-on-crime message.
    Daniel Politi, ajc, 28 May 2023
  • Much to the chagrin of the radical populists on the left and right alike, Trump’s economic policies were, by and large, profoundly banal.
    Noah Rothman, National Review, 2 Feb. 2024
  • Like Duterte, Moreno is a populist, Heydarian said, but one of a different stripe.
    Ben Westcott and Jinky Jorgio, CNN, 9 Oct. 2021
  • Up until this year, the boxer turned senator had been supportive of Duterte, a populist most known for a war on drugs that has left thousands dead.
    Washington Post, 19 Sep. 2021
  • Today, the same question arises about taking power out of the hands of Poland’s national populists.
    Foreign Affairs, 12 Mar. 2024
  • But also like Hungary, that reputation started to sour when far-right populists surged to power in the 2010s.
    Yascha Mounk, The Atlantic, 8 Sep. 2023
  • Obrador is another autocrat posing as a populist from the Left.
    Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post, 26 Feb. 2023
  • Abourezk, dubbed a pioneer populist, left us with the toolbox and templates for justice and social action.
    Doris Bittarcommunity Advisory Board Member, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 Mar. 2023
  • But that’s controversial for López Obrador, a populist who doesn’t want to be seen as America’s enforcer.
    Noah Bierman, Los Angeles Times, 6 June 2021
  • One final note: The populist Paramount does not indulge in Taylor Swift-style variable pricing.
    Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 24 Nov. 2022
  • Then, President Nayib Bukele, a young populist, took office in 2019.
    Anna-Catherine Brigida, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 Jan. 2022
  • No globe-trotting media darling or populist, Benedict was a teacher and theologian to the core: quiet and pensive with a fierce mind.
    Nicole Winfield, BostonGlobe.com, 31 Dec. 2022
  • This yearly lecture from on high is conceived to show Obama’s smarter-than-a-populist diversions.
    Armond White, National Review, 22 Dec. 2021
  • The idea was both avant-garde and populist, breaking down the hierarchies and theatrical heightening of modern dance.
    Brian Seibert, New York Times, 24 Feb. 2024
  • An extensive survey for the populist think tank American Compass found a stark class divide in how couples think about child care.
    Rich Lowry, National Review, 11 May 2021
  • Bukele, a forty-year-old former night-club manager, is an abrasive populist who tweets without restraint.
    Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, 8 Nov. 2021
Advertisement

populist

2 of 2 adjective
  • At first glance, the pivot to populist rhetoric seems an awkward fit for Sunak.
    Mark Landler, BostonGlobe.com, 4 Sep. 2023
  • The mouse was central to the computer’s populist future, which wasn’t yet assured at the time.
    Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 24 Jan. 2024
  • That idea, prevalent during the populist spring of 2016, has faded since.
    Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2023
  • For the past five years, the Socialists have ruled the country in a coalition with Podemos, a populist extreme left-wing force.
    José María Aznar, WSJ, 16 Nov. 2023
  • Both are populist proposals that council might not be able to vote through.
    Kaitlin Durbin, cleveland, 27 Jan. 2023
  • Pavel’s win cements a shift away from populist politics — at least for now.
    Emily Rauhala, Washington Post, 28 Jan. 2023
  • Biden used a familiar populist line from the stump about shifting more cost savings to those on the lower-income side, at the expense of the top 1%.
    Deirdre Walsh, NPR, 8 Mar. 2024
  • In turn, their recognition could honor a populist show that fans rallied for even when its own cast couldn’t.
    Hunter Ingram, Variety, 15 Dec. 2023
  • Chumbawamba’s members want the populist politician to stop all references to the song.
    Lars Brandle, Billboard, 20 Mar. 2024
  • Doyle McManus: Trump’s campaign in 2016 was a populist revolt.
    Ryan Fonseca, Los Angeles Times, 11 Dec. 2023
  • Pheu Thai, the main opposition party that has been a populist force in Thailand for 20 years, came second.
    Kocha Olarn, CNN, 11 July 2023
  • But the theme of Porter’s Senate campaign sounds more bipartisan and populist.
    Joe Garofoli, San Francisco Chronicle, 20 Jan. 2023
  • Parents and church leaders protested, and politicians seized the populist moment.
    John Humphrey Agaba, The Christian Science Monitor, 30 Aug. 2023
  • If anything, the pandemic seemed to act as a brake on populist politics, helping to end both the Trump and the Boris Johnson governments.
    Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 19 Feb. 2024
  • Currently, the populist faction clearly has the upper hand.
    David Lauter, Los Angeles Times, 2 June 2023
  • The rail companies didn’t enjoy the same populist affection.
    Malia Wollan, New York Times, 23 Jan. 2024
  • This predictably frustrates the Right, ramping up populist outrage.
    David Harsanyi, National Review, 16 Mar. 2023
  • No to the populist demagoguery that Wallace represented, and specialized in (and was so very good at).
    Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 23 Oct. 2023
  • But the new push shows that the political left isn’t ready to give up on the populist argument that government can and should be used as a tool for redistributing wealth.
    Susan Haigh, Fortune, 21 Jan. 2023
  • Food courts, which most of us probably associate with malls, are the ultimate in populist eating.
    Lucas Kwan Peterson, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2023
  • The third thing is that Democrats have everything to gain by more forthrightly pushing a populist economic agenda that goes even further than Biden.
    Timothy Noah, The New Republic, 23 Feb. 2023
  • Nonetheless, after eight years of populist rule that hardened the battle lines of Polish politics, much of the public is spoiling for a fight.
    Rob Picheta, CNN, 27 Jan. 2024
  • There are plenty of right-wing populist leaders around the world who support the Jewish state of Israel despite not being Jewish themselves.
    Adam Taylor, Washington Post, 14 Dec. 2023
  • But twenty-dollar seats still qualify the event as a populist endeavor.
    The New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2023
  • Critics of Poland’s populist government have accused it of ramping up a fear campaign ahead of crucial elections this fall.
    Loveday Morris, Washington Post, 28 Aug. 2023
  • Instead, Hawley has been leading the effort to reshape the Republican Party to look more like Trump’s populist base.
    Daniel Desrochers, Kansas City Star, 29 Feb. 2024
  • There was a migration and refugee crisis in the West, and populist parties with nativist platforms were winning elections across Europe.
    Tunku Varadarajan, WSJ, 20 Jan. 2023
  • The cult of Bukele is part of a recent surge of populist outsiders worldwide and reflects the degree to which crime has become a major anxiety across Latin America.
    Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times, 25 July 2023
  • The idea of a joint currency has long held traction in the region, with populist leaders pointing to the dominance of the dollar as evidence of neo-colonialism.
    Diego Lasarte, Quartz, 23 Jan. 2023
  • In November 2021, Modi’s announcement that the controversial laws would be repealed was widely seen as a win for the farmers and a rare retreat by the populist leader.
    Krutika Pathi, Quartz, 16 Feb. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'populist.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: