secessionist
Wants political divorce
A secessionist advocates for or supports withdrawal from a larger political entity—a state leaving a nation, a region breaking away from a country.
The term appears most often in historical contexts like the American Civil War, where Southern secessionists sought to leave the Union: Secessionist sentiment was strongest in South Carolina.
The word can also describe contemporary movements: Catalan secessionists held an independence referendum.
Advocate for breaking away
- breakawaySudden separation from group
- independenceFreedom from external control
- autonomyIndependent decision-making capacity
- sovereigntySupreme independent authority
self-determination · nationalism · regionalism · partition · devolution · referendum · balkanization · decolonization
Barrier separating spaces
- schismFormal organizational fracture
- dissolutionBreaking up completely
- disunionState of being divided
- breakawaySudden separation from group
rift · severance · fragmentation · disintegration · bifurcation · fracture · split · detachment
Secessionist Southern government
- antebellumBefore a war's start
- states' rightsProvincial governmental autonomy
- nullificationFormal cancellation of validity
- slaveholderOwner of enslaved persons
plantation · Union · abolitionist · Civil War · fire-eater · Fort Sumter · Confederate · Dixie
One who revolts
- rebelAuthority defier
- revolutionarySeeking fundamental systemic change
- guerrillaIrregular armed fighter
- insurrectionViolent uprising against authority
uprising · revolt · mutiny · resistance · coup · subversion · defiance · armed struggle
Vigorous cause champion
- campaignerOne who advocates publicly
- supporterOne who backs another
- proponentOne who advocates something
- sympathizerOne who shares feelings
champion · defender · spokesperson · lobbyist · propagandist · agitator · firebrand · ideologue
separatist
Advocate for breaking away
- breakawaySudden separation from group
- independenceFreedom from external control
- autonomyIndependent decision-making capacity
sovereignty · self-determination · nationalism · regionalism · partition · devolution · referendum · balkanization · decolonization · federalism
partition
Barrier separating spaces
- schismFormal organizational fracture
- dissolutionBreaking up completely
- disunionState of being divided
breakaway · rift · severance · fragmentation · disintegration · bifurcation · fracture · split · detachment · disaffiliation
Confederacy
Secessionist Southern government
- antebellumBefore a war's start
- states' rightsProvincial governmental autonomy
- nullificationFormal cancellation of validity
slaveholder · plantation · Union · abolitionist · Civil War · fire-eater · Fort Sumter · Confederate · Dixie · Lost Cause
insurgent
One who revolts
- rebelAuthority defier
- revolutionarySeeking fundamental systemic change
- guerrillaIrregular armed fighter
insurrection · uprising · revolt · mutiny · resistance · coup · subversion · defiance · armed struggle · combatant
activist
Vigorous cause champion
- campaignerOne who advocates publicly
- supporterOne who backs another
- proponentOne who advocates something
sympathizer · champion · defender · spokesperson · lobbyist · propagandist · agitator · firebrand · ideologue · hardliner
- Separatismseparatism, separatist, independence movements, sovereignty movements, breakaway
secessionistunionist
Labor coalition supporter
federalist · integrationist · nationalist · loyalist · centralist
secessionistmoderate
Lessen intensity or preside
centrist · incrementalist · reformist · gradualist · establishmentarian
- secessionist movementCampaign for political separation