carpetbagger
U.S. History. a Northerner who went to the South after the Civil War and became active in Republican politics, especially so as to profiteer from the unsettled social and political conditions of the area during Reconstruction.
a politician who takes up residence in a place and runs for office without having strong ties to the area.
any opportunistic or exploitive outsider: Our bus company has served this town for years, but now the new one run by carpetbaggers from the city is stealing our business.
Origin of carpetbagger
1Other words from carpetbagger
- car·pet·bag·ger·y, noun
Words Nearby carpetbagger
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use carpetbagger in a sentence
Bob Smith: unbalanced, inconstant, and even more of a carpetbagger than the other guy.
Sen. Bob Smith: The Thing That Wouldn’t Leave | Michelle Cottle | December 4, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThe country carpetbagger has become such a regular that Kyle Coroneos has indentified three steps to career reinvention.
Gwyneth Paltrow and the Rise of the Country Carpetbagger | Bryan Curtis | January 6, 2011 | THE DAILY BEASTAn East Coast carpetbagger doesn't get away with insulting a child of California from a family with decades of public service.
The two biggest hurdles executives entering politics face is being viewed as either a carpetbagger or egomaniac.
He was told that he was a carpetbagger, but he desperately wanted to serve the people, as I do.
The charge of corruption laid at the door of the Negro carpetbagger governments is to a large extent true.
Tarbell in 1887 called himself a conservative carpetbagger, one who found himself in the minority.
The conference of the carpetbagger with the little Governor proved more ominous than even Norton had feared.
The Sins of the Father | Thomas Dixon"You'll go down, all right—without those troops—mark my word," cried the carpetbagger.
The Sins of the Father | Thomas DixonIn vain his carpetbagger lieutenant congratulated him on the success of his Napoleonic move.
The Sins of the Father | Thomas Dixon
British Dictionary definitions for carpetbagger
/ (ˈkɑːpɪtˌbæɡə) /
a politician who seeks public office in a locality where he has no real connections
British a person who makes a short-term investment in a mutual savings or life-assurance organization in order to benefit from free shares issued following the organization's conversion to a public limited company
US a Northern White who went to the South after the Civil War to profit from Reconstruction
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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