left vs right
Opposing sides, politically
Left and right are opposing directions relative to an observer's body.
Left is the side of the heart; right is the side of the dominant hand for most people.
The terms anchor spatial orientation: Turn left at the light, The bank is on your right.
In politics, left denotes progressive or socialist positions while right denotes conservative ones—from seating arrangements in the French Revolutionary assembly.
Someone left of center holds moderately progressive views; the far right occupies the political extreme.
The directional and political senses rarely cause confusion in context.
- directionWay something faces
- politicalOf government matters
- political spectrumRange of belief systems
- liberalOpen to reform
- conservativeCautious about altering customs
turn · hand · wing · opposite · side · compass · correct · wrong · remaining · departed · east · west · handed · sinister · dexterous · navigate · steering · ballot
- political conflictpolarization, partisanship, faction, culture war, culture wars
- polarizationpolarizer, divide, polarized light, divisiveness, polarizing filter
left vs rightcenter
Middle of anything
centrist · moderate · middle-of-the-road · nonpartisan · bipartisan
left vs rightcenter
Middle of anything
middle · straight ahead · forward · backward · up and down
left, right, leftward, leftwards, rightward, rightwards, leftmost, rightmost, leftish