partisan
UK/ˈpɑː.tɪˌzæn//ˈpɑɹ.tɪ.zən/
partisan noun: an adherent to a party or faction.
Noun (1)
partisan (plural partisans)
- An adherent to a party or faction.
- "Strong partisans of neither party, Indiana farmers failed to act as a block […]"1992, Thomas R. Pegram, Partisans and Progressives: Private Interest and Public Policy in Illinois
- Synonyms:
- partyman
- A fervent, sometimes militant, supporter or proponent of a party, cause, faction, person, or idea.
- A member of a band of detached light, irregular troops acting behind occupying enemy lines in the ways of harassment or sabotage; a guerrilla fighter.
- The commander of a body of detached light troops engaged in making forays and harassing an enemy.
Adjective
partisan (comparative more partisan, superlative most partisan)
- Serving as commander or member of a body of detached light troops.
- partisan officer, partisan corps
- Adherent to a party or faction; especially, having the character of blind, passionate, or unreasonable adherence to a party.
- They were blinded by partisan zeal.
- Having put partisan interests to one side, Greenwood set about making teamwork a watchword for her chairmanship, while seeking the broadest possible participation in subsequent inquiries.2020 June 3, Lilian Greenwood talks to Paul Stephen, “Rail's 'underlying challenges' remain”, in Rail, page 33
- Devoted to or biased in support of a party, group, or cause.
- partisan politics
- England will regard it as a measure of justice for Frank Lampard's disallowed goal against Germany in Bloemfontein at the 2010 World Cup - but it was also an illustration of how they rode their luck for long periods in front of a predictably partisan home crowd.2012 June 19, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Ukraine”, in BBC Sport
Noun (2)
partisan (plural partisans)
- A long-handled spear with a triangular, double-edged blade having lateral projections, in some forms also used in boar hunting.
- I had as lief have a reed that will do me no service as a partisan I could not heave.c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
- Salisbury and his attendants were also now drawing near, with bills and partisans brandished, and bows already bended.1825, Sir Walter Scott, The Talisman
- A soldier armed with such a weapon.
partisan meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
partisan in Hindi
- adherent to a party
- पक्षपाती pakṣapātī, पक्षधर pakṣadhar
partisan in Tamil
- சார்பாளன்
partisan in Urdu
- partisan
- پکشی pakšī
partisan in Bengali
- partisan, adherent
- তরফদার torophdar
More languagesFewer languages
- partisan in Telugu
- పక్షపాతి pakṣapāti
- partisan in Malayalam
- പക്ഷാവലംബി, പാർട്ടിപക്ഷപാതം പുലർത്തുന്നവൻ
- partisan in Kannada
- ತಂಡದವನು, ಉರಳಿಗ, ಪಕ್ಷಾಭಿಮಾನಿ, ಗೆರಿಲ್ಲಾ ಸೈನಿಕ
- partisan in Punjabi
- ਤਰਫਦਾਰ taraphdār
- partisan in Gujarati
- પક્ષપાતી
- partisan in Sanskrit
- पक्ष pakṣá
- partisan in Arabic
- حِزْبِيّ ḥizbiyy
Examples of partisan in a sentence
- He was such a dyed-in-the-wool partisan that I just couldn't get it through his skull.
- He was such a dyed-in-the-wool partisan that I just couldn't get through to him and change his mind.
- If nicknames and partisan battles are inevitable, better to control branding out of the gate.
Synonyms of partisan
Forms of partisan
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | partisans |
| alternative form (dated) | partizan |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more partisan |
| superlative | most partisan |
Origin of partisan
From French partisan, from Italian partigiano (“defender of a party”), from parte (“part”). Doublet of partigiano. Attested in English from the late 15th century in the noun sense of "party adherent", and in related adjective senses from the 16th century. The "guerrilla fighter" sense influenced by Serbo-Croatian partizan, Russian партиза́н (partizán), from the same source. The sense of "guerrilla fighter" is from c. 1690. The adjective in the military sense dates from the early 18th century.
From French partizaine, from Middle French partizaine, partisanne etc., from Italian partigiana, related to Etymology 1 above (apparently because it was seen as a typical weapon of such forces).
Words formed from partisan
Questions about partisan
- What does partisan mean?
- Partisan means an adherent to a party or faction.
- What is partisan in Hindi?
- Partisan in Hindi is पक्षपाती (pakṣapātī), पक्षधर (pakṣadhar). See Partisan meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is partisan?
- Partisan can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce partisan?
- Partisan is pronounced /ˈpɑː.tɪˌzæn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of partisan?
- The plural of partisan is partisans.
Words near partisan in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: partisan (page history and authors); partisan (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); پکشی (Urdu) (page history and authors); তরফদার (Bengali) (page history and authors); పక్షపాతి (Telugu) (page history and authors); partisan (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); partisan (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਤਰਫਦਾਰ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); partisan (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); पक्ष (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-partisan.ogg, en-au-partisan.ogg.
Cite this entry: “partisan.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/partisan. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.