Meanings
- UKuncountablegovernmentA pragmatic paternalistic form of conservatism, conscious of working-class issues.
1 more example
All this links Johnson firmly with his predecessors – Margaret Thatcher, John Major, David Cameron and Theresa May. So does (with Thatcher as the exception that proves the rule) his eagerness – on full display in his remarks in Downing Street on Friday – to employ that emptiest of empty signifiers, “one-nation Conservatism”.
[2019 December 14, Tim Bale, “The real Boris Johnson: one-nation Tory or raging populist?”, in The Observer, →ISSNSynonyms: one nation, one-nationism, Tory Democracy
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA pragmatic paternalistic form of conservatism, conscious of working-class issues.
Origin
Refers to the fact that all classes are part of the same nation.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
one-nation conservatism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/one-nation%20conservatism
“one-nation conservatism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/one-nation%20conservatism. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “one-nation conservatism,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/one-nation%20conservatism.
Source: one-nation conservatism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.