Word.ws English Dictionary

sewer socialism

sewer socialism noun: a form of socialism that prioritises provision of public services and infrastructure, primarily associated with Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Noun

sewer socialism (uncountable)

  1. (US) A form of socialism that prioritises provision of public services and infrastructure, primarily associated with Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
    • The late Morris Hillquit of New York City scoffingly called Hoan’s politics sewer socialism.[1938, Forum and Column Review, volume 100, page 192
    • Otherwise, just as surely as sewer socialism has been obliterated from our social scene and merged with tepid liberalism, so will sewer liberalism be blended into “middle-of-the-road” conservatism.1956, The Progressive, volume 20, page 24

Origin of sewer socialism

From sewer + socialism. Originally coined by Riga-born American lawyer, politician and art collector Morris Hillquit in 1932 as a derogatory nickname.

Words formed from sewer socialism

Questions about sewer socialism

What does sewer socialism mean?
Sewer socialism means a form of socialism that prioritises provision of public services and infrastructure, primarily associated with Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
What part of speech is sewer socialism?
Sewer socialism is a noun.

Words near sewer socialism in the dictionary

  1. sewer rat
  2. sewer rats
  3. sewer service
  4. sewer slide
  5. sewer slides
  6. sewer socialism
  7. sewer socialist
  8. sewer socialists
  9. sewerable
  10. sewerage
  11. sewerages

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sewer socialism (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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “sewer socialism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sewer_socialism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.