dreyfusard · noun — A supporter of Alfred Dreyfus (1859–1935) in the Dreyfus affair (1894–1906). It carries an Arena rating of 1325, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, dreyfusard ranks #494 of 17,106 for Most Storied Words, #5,098 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #5,612 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #6,404 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words.
Why “dreyfusard” is a great word
A supporter of Alfred Dreyfus, the French Jewish artillery officer wrongly convicted of treason in the infamous scandal that divided France. From the French surname Dreyfus and the suffix -ard (denoting a person characterized by or associated with something, often pejoratively), the term first entered English in 1895–1900. Unlike an anti-Dreyfusard, defined by opposition in that brutal culture war, or a Zionist, whose commitment was to a political future, a Dreyfusard was defined by a present and personal fight for secular justice. It was the face of Émile Zola flushed with public outrage, the rustle of a carefully folded protest petition passed beneath a café table, the precise, meticulous handwriting of the Colonel who found the real traitor—a commitment not to a tribe or an ideology, but to the fragile, radical idea that a single man mattered.
❧ Written by Lexicurio’s AI
Etymology
From French dreyfusard.
noun
- A supporter of Alfred Dreyfus (1859–1935) in the Dreyfus affair (1894–1906).
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- dreyfusism 85% match — Support for Alfred Dreyfus in the Dreyfus Affair. vs dreyfusard →
- dreyfusist 81% match — Synonym of Dreyfusard. vs dreyfusard →
- dyerite 59% match — A supporter of Reginald Dyer (1864–1927), British military officer in the Bengal Army and later the newly constituted British Indian Army. vs dreyfusard →
- duployan 55% match — Of or relating to Émile Duployé or his works. vs dreyfusard →
- deweyan 54% match — Of or pertaining to Melvil Dewey (1851–1931), American librarian and educator, and inventor of the Dewey Decimal Classification. vs dreyfusard →
- boulangist 53% match — Supporting Boulangism vs dreyfusard →
- dyerian 52% match — Of or relating to Reginald Dyer (1864–1927), British military officer in the Bengal Army and later the newly constituted British Indian Army. vs dreyfusard →
- democrat 52% match — A supporter of democracy; an advocate of democratic politics (originally (historical) as opposed to the aristocrats in Revolutionary France). vs dreyfusard →