Meanings
comparative more bothsidesist · superlative most bothsidesist
- Of or pertaining to bothsidesism.
“If you’re wondering how Jon Stewart’s bullshit bothsidesist return went over…” former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann posted to X, formerly Twitter. “The antisemite racist conspiracy nuts LOVED it.”
2024 February 13, Zachary Leeman, “Jon Stewart Angers Liberal Viewers By Criticizing Biden: ‘Racist Conspiracy Theory Nuts LOVED It!’”, in Mediaite1 more example
Tommy is like Joel because he, too, has abandoned society at large, but Tommy contrasts sharply with Joel because his bothsidesist rejection of FEDRA and the Fireflies doesn’t lead him to the hunters or cutthroat smuggling.
2022 February 15, J. Jesse Ramirez, Rules of the Father in The Last of Us: Masculinity Among the Ruins of Neoliberalism, Springer Nature, →ISBN, page 40
plural bothsidesists
- One who uses bothsidesism.
Now consider a situation where correct and incorrect beliefs about some policy are initially distributed more or less randomly across the political spectrum. This is the ideal case for bothsidesists who will point out the inconsistencies.
2022 December 27, John Q, “Why the (US) right is always wrong … and how both-sidesists help to ensure this”, in Crooked Timber
Origin
From both sides + -ist, see bothsidesism.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
bothsidesist. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bothsidesist
“bothsidesist.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bothsidesist. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bothsidesist,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bothsidesist.
Source: bothsidesist on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.