Meanings
- uncountableThe commission of usually illegal acts of sabotage motivated by environmentalism.
As Abbey notes, in denouncing terrorism but defending ecotage, ‘sabotage is violence against inanimate objects: machinery and property. Terrorism is violence against human beings. […]’ (Dowie 1996, p. 210).
2013, Elizabeth Bomberg, David Schlosberg, editors, Environmentalism in the United States: Changing Conceptions of Activism, Routledge, →ISBN2 more examples
Pro-conservation, pro-guns and extremely pro-booze, anti-mining, anti-tourism and extremely anti-dams, Hayduke appoints himself protector of the remaining desert regions of the American southwest, and becomes a pioneer in the art of "eco-tage", also known as "monkey wrenching" – using the tools of industry to demolish the infrastructure of industry in the name of the biosphere.
2009 September 25, Robert Macfarlane, “Robert Macfarlane on The Monkey Wrench Gang”, in The GuardianLike Antifa groups, some environmental groups advocate violence or “ecotage” to protect the environment. Some ecotage advocates compare it to protection of minority rights among humans, only in this case, all plants and animals must be protected, sometimes, by violent or disruptive acts.
2018, Joel Spring, Global Impacts of the Western School Model: Corporatization, Alienation, Consumerism, Routledge, →ISBNSynonyms: ecodefence, monkeywrenching, pixieing
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe commission of usually illegal acts of sabotage motivated by environmentalism.
Origin
Cite this entry
ecotage. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ecotage
“ecotage.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ecotage. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ecotage,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ecotage.
Source: ecotage on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.