hard-liners
Those who won't budge
Hard-liners are people who take an uncompromising stance on political or ideological issues, refusing to moderate their positions or negotiate.
The term often appears in contexts of foreign policy, religious doctrine, or party politics: Hard-liners in the government opposed any peace talks.
The word implies inflexibility that others may find obstructive or principled, depending on perspective.
Those with radical positions
- radicalsAdvocates for fundamental change
- zealotsFanatical cause followers
- fundamentalistsRigid interpreters of doctrine
- ideologuesAdherents of fixed doctrines
purists · doctrinaires · dogmatists · partisans · militants · hawks · neoconservatives · ultranationalists
Refusing to yield ground
- intransigentRefusing to compromise
- unyieldingRefusing to give way
- obstinateFirmly refusing to yield
- adamantStubbornly refusing to yield
unbending · immovable · steadfast · resolute · unwavering · implacable · iron-willed · staunch
Rulers with unchecked power
- despotsOppressive absolute rulers
- tyrantsOppressive absolute rulers
- strongmenAuthoritarian rulers or muscular performers
- dictatorsRulers with total control
oppressors · totalitarians · enforcers · apparatchiks · commissars · junta · regime · crackdown
Intolerant, prejudiced people
- xenophobesThose fearing outsiders
- chauvinistsExcessively partial advocates
- nativistsAdvocates for limiting foreign arrivals
- supremacistsBelievers in group dominance
segregationists · exclusionists · jingoists · narrow-minded · prejudiced · discriminatory · parochial · insular
extremists
Those with radical positions
- radicalsAdvocates for fundamental change
- zealotsFanatical cause followers
- fundamentalistsRigid interpreters of doctrine
ideologues · purists · doctrinaires · dogmatists · partisans · militants · hawks · neoconservatives · ultranationalists · reactionaries
uncompromising
Refusing to yield ground
- intransigentRefusing to compromise
- unyieldingRefusing to give way
- obstinateFirmly refusing to yield
adamant · unbending · immovable · steadfast · resolute · unwavering · implacable · iron-willed · staunch · tenacious
autocrats
Rulers with unchecked power
- despotsOppressive absolute rulers
- tyrantsOppressive absolute rulers
- strongmenAuthoritarian rulers or muscular performers
dictators · oppressors · totalitarians · enforcers · apparatchiks · commissars · junta · regime · crackdown · purge
bigots
Intolerant, prejudiced people
- xenophobesThose fearing outsiders
- chauvinistsExcessively partial advocates
- nativistsAdvocates for limiting foreign arrivals
supremacists · segregationists · exclusionists · jingoists · narrow-minded · prejudiced · discriminatory · parochial · insular · closed-minded
hard-linersmoderates
Reduces intensity or extremity
soft-liners · centrists · compromisers · pragmatists · conciliators
hard-linersmoderates
Reduces intensity or extremity
gradualists · reformists · pragmatists · realists · liberals
hard, harder, hardest, harden, hardened, hardening, hardens, hardness, hardly