Antifederalist

[ an-tee-fed-er-uh-list, -fed-ruh-, an-tahy- ]

noun

1. U.S. History. a member or supporter of the Antifederal party.
2. (lowercase) an opponent of federalism.

Antifederalist

/ -ˈfɛdrə-; ˌæntɪˈfɛdərəlɪst /

noun

1. history a person who opposed the ratification of the Constitution in 1789 and thereafter allied with Thomas Jefferson's Antifederal Party, which opposed extension of the powers of the federal Government
2. often not capital any person who opposes federalism

Other Words From

• Anti·feder·al·ism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of Antifederalist¹

An Americanism dating back to 1780–90; anti- + federalist

Example Sentences

Southerners, chiefly Virginians, were telling him that assumption demonstrated how prophetic the Antifederalist enemies to the Constitution now looked, and how his previous assurances in the Virginia ratifying convention and The Federalist Papers, assurances that the Constitution would prove a culmination rather than a betrayal of the American Revolution, now seemed like false promises.

From Literature

The term conveyed the political fear, so potent among the Antifederalist critics of the constitutional settlement of 1788, that the states would be absorbed by the new federal government.

From Literature

The old Antifederalist coalition that Madison had opposed so effectively at the Virginia ratifying convention in 1788 believed with some justification that their cause had never really been defeated, merely outmaneuvered.

From Literature

The Antifederalist opponents of the Constitution made precisely these points, but they were outmaneuvered, outargued, and ultimately outvoted by a dedicated band of national advocates in nine of the state ratifying conventions.

From Literature

The tea party movement that swept Republicans to power in the House in 2010 was a recent manifestation of the antifederalist strain in American politics.

From Washington Post