Meanings
- governmentA leftist exit from the European Union.
Others on the left call for a populist campaign for a “Lexit” – a leftwing exit from the EU.
2015 October 5, Mark Leonard, “What would a UK outside the EU look like?”, in The Guardian4 more examples
And that is why – if indeed much of the left decides on Lexit – it must run its own separate campaign and try and win ownership of the issue.
2015 July 14, Owen Jones, “The left must put Britain's EU withdrawal on the agenda”, in The GuardianThere is a push from the left in the UK for a ‘Lexit’ – a move away from the neo-liberal EU which stomped on an anti-austerity peoples’ movement in Greece and failed to respond to the refugee crisis.
2016 June 22, Ewa Jasiewicz, “Why I’m in: Pushing for Lexit won’t help migrants or the working class”, in The IndependentExasperated by the EU’s mixture of authoritarianism and economic failure, a segment of Europe’s left is now calling for a “break with the EU,” which would mobilize left-wing support for exit referenda across the continent. Their analysis has come to be known simply as “Lexit.”
2016 September 5, Yanis Varoufakis, “Europe’s Left after Brexit”, in JacobinPopular Unity contested the general election that followed in September on a programme for a left exit – Lexit – from the euro but, falling 7,600 votes short of the 3% threshold to win representation, ended up with no seats.
2019 February 28, Clive Heemskerk, “Lexit is not enough”, in Socialism Today - governmentThe hypothetical withdrawal of Luxembourg from the European Union.
Origin
Blend of left + exit, after Brexit.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with Lexit
Anagrams
Cite this entry
Lexit. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Lexit
“Lexit.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Lexit. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Lexit,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Lexit.
Source: Lexit on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.