YOUNG TURK Synonyms: 30 Similar and Opposite Words

young Turk

noun

Definition of young Turk

as in extremist

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of young Turk And then some young Turk comes along who's not in a routine and can knock you right off your perch. — Robert B. Tucker, Forbes, 13 Feb. 2024 The Armenian genocide did not occur at a time when the Ottoman Empire fully ruled the region, but during a period when Young Turk nationalists were in the process of superseding the empire. — Robert D. Kaplan, Foreign Affairs, 8 Aug. 2023

Recent Examples of Synonyms for young Turk

Noun

The last of them, a 12-year campaign against ISIS, sought to dismantle the Sunni extremist group that carved out territory across Syria and Iraq in the mid-2010s.

— Sarah Tamimi, CNN Money, 30 Sep. 2026
The caption on the video claims that a group of Muslim extremists kidnapped and beheaded a Christian man for refusing to convert to Islam.

— Matthew Ablon, CBS News, 14 Sep. 2026

Definition of extremist

Noun

Dohrn, who is the son of the longtime radicals Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers and who has taught for several years at Northwestern University, certainly has enjoyed a catbird’s seat on the culture wars of academia.

— Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 15 Sep. 2026
Some of our friends, who’d assumed that abstract art was all that any longer really mattered, were wondering if Jack’s nudes were radical or retro or if retro was the new radical.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of radical

Noun

The Saudis did not blame any party for the attacks, but Houthi rebels took credit earlier for the airport strikes.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 8 Oct. 2026
Attacks by the Houthis, the Yemeni rebel group, on commercial shipping in the Red Sea over the last three years have pushed major carriers around the Cape of Good Hope, boosting traffic at ports along Africa’s southern and western coasts.

— Jared Cohen, Foreign Affairs, 7 Oct. 2026

Definition of rebel

Noun

As the head of China’s Nationalist government, Chiang and his party were trying to establish control in a nation divided among revolutionists, nationalists, Indigenous warlords, and a developing communist army and government.

— Susan Tate Ankeny, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 Apr. 2024
Many revolutionists see heavy tank casualties in Ukraine as the key indicator for the tank’s looming obsolescence in the face of newly lethal precision antitank weapons.

— Stephen Biddle, Foreign Affairs, 10 Aug. 2023

Definition of revolutionist

Noun

But unlike other Floridians of Cuban descent — including Secretary of State Marco Rubio — Valdes ended up defending Cuba’s socialist revolutionaries and officials who have killed, jailed, tortured, and censored numerous political enemies.

— Hudson Crozier, The Washington Examiner, 9 Oct. 2026
State media claimed that revolutionaries had been trained by Israel and tied them, simultaneously, to the United States, Iran, Hamas, al-Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, and international NGOs.

— Abdelrahman ElGendy, Time, 6 Oct. 2026

Definition of revolutionary

Noun

The incident came as agitators against immigration adopt a confrontational new tactic of trying to stop the boats landing on England’s shores, clashing with police and rescue workers in the process.

— Jill Lawless, Los Angeles Times, 24 Sep. 2026
Among the agitators were the workers at Sytin’s Moscow publishing house.

— James Folta, Literary Hub, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of agitator

Noun

They’re seen as oligarchs, as the people with wealth and power, controlling our lives—not as outsider insurgents.

— Nicholas Lemann, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2026
Others look further back to early and sporadic insurgent activity in 1964, before the UDI, or to 1965, the year of the UDI (November 11) itself.

— Chinatsu Tsuji, Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 Sep. 2026

Definition of insurgent

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“Young Turk.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/young%20Turk. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of young Turk

noun

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