keyboard warrior

plural keyboard warriors

1. InternetderogatoryA person who behaves aggressively or in an inflammatory manner in online textbased discussion media, but does not behave similarly in real life, potentially due to cowardice, introversion or shyness.

   Near-synonyms: keyboard cowboy, chronically online, terminally online

   2 more examples

   According to these keyboard warriors, the young men and women who survived the shooting are part of a big hoax, are liars, are mere cardboard cutouts – “crisis actors” who roam the country looking for mass shootings from which to promote their anti-gun message – all being pushed forward by the giant liberal machine that is Hillary Clinton’s robot attack army.

   2018 February 21, Jeff Pearlman, “Parkland students, ignore the idiots”, in CNN

   Others are newer converts who have only a vague idea how it all connects. There are law-abiding keyboard warriors as well as violent, unhinged radicals.

   2021 January 17, Kevin Roose, “A QAnon ‘Digital Soldier’ Marches On, Undeterred by Theory’s Unraveling”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 17 Jan 2021

   Synonyms: keyboard cowboy, chronically online, terminally online