patriotism

noun

1. 1

   Love of one's country; devotion to the welfare of one's compatriots; passion which inspires one to serve one's country.

   That public virtue, which among the ancients was denominated patriotism, is derived from a strong sense of our own interest in the preservation and prosperity of the free government of which we are members.

   In the hour of death we shall have the consolation to see established in the land of our fathers the most wonderful work of wisdom and disinterested patriotism that has ever yet appeared on the globe.

   The subject of his play was the fate of Agis, the young and heroic King of Sparta: it gave the ideal of patriotism, relieved by the tenderness of sorrow, and the fidelity of love.

   I told the Governors that I had never questioned the capacity or the sincerity or the ability of a man because he belonged to a different political party. No party had an overriding claim to patriotism. The times, I said, demanded that we put away our differences and close ranks in a determined effort to make our system of government function.

2. 2

   The actions of a patriot.

3. 3

   The desire to compete sharply with, and perhaps also dominate, other nations; nationalism.

   Near-synonyms: chauvinism, superpatriotism

   Patriotism cannot be good. What produces war is the desire for an exclusive good for one’s own nation – that is called patriotism. And so to abolish war, it is necessary to abolish patriotism, and to abolish patriotism, it is necessary first to become convinced that it is an evil.

   Economic protectionism within the older member states has, in fact, increased in the past year. Calls for economic patriotism have given rise to efforts to create national champions designed to protect key strategic industries from foreign competition.

   The idea that Ireland's rugby and soccer fans would have to go to England to follow their teams was intrinsically unpalatable, Kelly said, but he was also motivated by common sense: "That would have been an immense cost to the economy, it would have been a major drain on the fans, but the prestige and image of the country would also have been affected badly." / His pragmatic patriotism paid off.

Forms

plural

patriotisms