Tory

¹ American  

[tawr-ee, tohr-ee] / ˈtɔr i, ˈtoʊr i /

noun

plural

Tories

1. a member of the Conservative Party in Great Britain or Canada.

2. a member of a political party in Great Britain from the late 17th century to about 1832 that favored royal authority over Parliament and the preservation of the existing social and political order: succeeded by the Conservative party.

3. (often lowercase) an advocate of conservative principles; one opposed to reform or radicalism.

4. a person who supported the British cause in the American Revolution; a loyalist.

5. (in the 17th century) a dispossessed Irishman who resorted to banditry, especially after the invasion of Oliver Cromwell and suppression of the royalist cause (1649–52).

6. a male or female given name.

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adjective

1. of, belonging to, or characteristic of the Tories.

2. being a Tory.

3. (sometimes lowercase) opposed to reform or radicalism; conservative.

-tory ² American  

1. a suffix occurring in loanwords from Latin, originally adjectival derivatives of agent nouns ending in -tor (predatory ); also forming adjectival derivatives directly from verbs (obligatory; transitory ).

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-tory ³ American  

1. a suffix occurring in loanwords from Latin, usually derivatives from agent nouns ending in -tor or directly from verbs, denoting a place or object appropriate for the activity of the verb: dormitory; repository .

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Tory British  

/ ˈtɔːrɪ /

noun

1. a member or supporter of the Conservative Party in Great Britain or Canada

2. a member of the English political party that opposed the exclusion of James, Duke of York from the royal succession (1679–80). Tory remained the label for subsequent major conservative interests until they gave birth to the Conservative Party in the 1830s

3. an American supporter of the British cause; loyalist Compare Whig

4. (sometimes not capital) an ultraconservative or reactionary

5. (in the 17th century) an Irish Roman Catholic, esp an outlaw who preyed upon English settlers

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adjective

1. of, characteristic of, or relating to Tories

2. (sometimes not capital) ultraconservative or reactionary

Other Word Forms

• Toryish adjective
• Toryism noun

Etymology

Origin of Tory¹

1640–50; < Irish *tóraighe outlaw, bandit, derivative of tóir chase, pursuit

Origin of -tory²

< Latin -tōrius, equivalent to -tōr- -tor + -ius adj. suffix

Origin of -tory³

< Latin -tōrium, noun use of neuter of -tōrius -tory ¹

Example Sentences

Tory Burch won designer of the year, presented by her longtime friend Pamela Anderson.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 9, 2026

Tory peer Lord Chadlington is to quit the Conservatives and retire from the House of Lords following a recommendation he be suspended from Parliament for a year.

From BBC • Mar. 6, 2026

The commissioner's latest inquiry followed two previous investigations by his predecessor, in 2022 and 2023, that found the Tory peer's actions had not breached the Lords code of conduct.

From BBC • Mar. 6, 2026

Former Tory leader Douglas Ross tabled a question at Holyrood asking whether any discussions had taken place between the government and the courts about the move.

From BBC • Feb. 20, 2026

The daughter of a wealthy Tory family, she was also a close friend of Major John André, England’s chief of intelligence in America.

From "George Washington, Spymaster" by Thomas B. Allen

Related Words

• archconservative
• counterrevolutionary
• regressive
• rightist
• ultraconservative