New Right

American  

noun

(sometimes lowercase)

1. a group of conservatives whose views diverge from those of traditional conservatives, as in being more staunchly opposed to abortion or defense cuts.

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New Right British  

noun

1. a range of radical right-wing groups and ideologies which advocate laissez-faire economic policies, anti-welfarism, and the belief in the rights of the individual over the common good

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Other Word Forms

• New Rightist noun

Etymology

Origin of New Right

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

Maggie Thatcher came a few years before Reagan, but they were closely allied and historically linked as figureheads of the triumphant New Right.

From Salon • Feb. 15, 2026

Back in the 1980s, the Reagan coalition was a fusion of free-market economics, cultural conservatism, anti-communism and international foreign affairs, says Laura K Field, author of Furious Minds: The Making of the Maga New Right.

From BBC • Dec. 15, 2025

Germany’s top security official, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, accused the so-called New Right of trying to combine “an intellectual and modern appearance” with continued hatred toward refugees and migrants.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 26, 2023

The New Right was the movement in the 1960s-1970s that produced Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan.

From Washington Post • Aug. 7, 2022

Some have pointed to a new strain of Catholic thought known as postliberalism, championed primarily by Catholic academics such as Patrick Deneen and Adrian Vermeule, as one promising alternative path for the New Right.

From New York Times • Jun. 1, 2022