young Turk

plural young Turks · alternative Young Turk

1. historicalFrom the late-19th to the early-20th century, a member of a movement that campaigned for reform of the Ottoman Empire.
2. broadlyidiomaticA young person who agitates for political or other reform; a young person with a rebellious disposition.

   He arrives at a time when jazz's discontented Young Turks have disdainfully turned away from their audiences and gone off to explore the way-out.

   1966 September 30, “Jazz: Man with a Brain”, in Time

   1 more example

   "What! Roscoe?" inquired the principal. "Yes." "Is he in any mischief?" "Mischief? I should say so! Why, he's a regular young Turk." "A young Turk? I don't think I understand you, James." "I mean, he's a young ruffian."

   1885, Horatio Alger, chapter 14, in Hector's Inheritance

plural Young Turks

1. alternativeAlternative form of young Turk.