accommodationist

1 of 2

adjective

ac·com·mo·da·tion·ist ə-ˌkä-mə-ˈdā-sh(ə-)nist

Synonyms of accommodationist

: favoring or practicing accommodation or compromise

accommodationist

2 of 2

noun

plural accommodationists

often disparaging

: someone who adapts to or compromises with an opposing view

especially, disparaging : a Black person who adapts to ideals or attitudes perceived as belonging to white people

accommodationism

ə-ˌkä-mə-ˈdā-shə-ni-zəm

noun

Examples of accommodationist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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Adjective

The two ultimately broke sharply over Trotter’s more radical, less accommodationist stance, disseminated through his paper, the Boston Guardian. —Drew Gilpin Faust, The Atlantic, 8 Nov. 2022

Third, there were accommodationist movements of the sort undertaken by Booker T. Washington, who thought that loyalty to America was the best course. —Robert L. Woodson Sr. and Joshua Mitchell, WSJ, 15 Jan. 2021 These can be valuable traits in politics since the moderate, accommodationist wing of the Democratic Party sometimes needs outside pressure to force them to focus on causes larger than the next election. —Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 11 Mar. 2020 It was praised in some quarters as groundbreaking and criticized in others as reductive, Pollyannaish and accommodationist — condemned, in short, for glossing over the stark realities of life that black Americans faced daily. —New York Times, 4 Oct. 2019 In Washington, Feehery has become the face of the Republican establishment’s accommodationist wing, whose general posture is to shrug at Trumpian anarchy and to view the press, Democrats, and anti-Trump conservatives as alarmist. —Ryan Lizza, The New Yorker, 17 Feb. 2017 Nashville is home to deeply ambitious country music centrists, accommodationist lifers, would-be outlaws, actual outlaws, and also to Mr. Simpson, who, despite some shared DNA here and there, is not any of those things. —Jon Caramanica, New York Times, 31 Mar. 2016

Noun

Bob Michel, the longtime accommodationist who treated Democratic House majorities as an unalterable fact of life, faded away, and the pugilistic Newt Gingrich ascended. —Ed Burmila, The New Republic, 15 June 2022 Many African American activists had broken with King, advocating Black Power rather than racial reconciliation, abandoning nonviolence, and denouncing King as an accommodationist. —Drew Gilpin Faust, The Atlantic, 18 July 2019 Ava DuVernay is Hollywood’s current reigning accommodationist. —Armond White, National Review, 10 July 2019 To Douthat Francis is an accommodationist, and decline has reached the apex of the church. —Paul Elie, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2018

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

accommodation + -ist entry 2

Noun

accommodation + -ist entry 1

First Known Use

Adjective

1858, in the meaning defined above

Noun

circa 1832, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of accommodationist was circa 1832

See more words from the same year

Cite this Entry

Style

“Accommodationist.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accommodationist. Accessed 27 Mar. 2025.

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accommodationist

adjective

noun

Examples of accommodationist in a Sentence

Word History

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accommodationist

adjective

noun

Examples of accommodationist in a Sentence

Word History

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More from Merriam-Webster on accommodationist

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