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carpetbagger
[kahr-pit-bag-er]
noun
U.S. History.a Northerner who went to the South after the Civil War and became active in Republican politics, especially so as to profiteer from the unsettled social and political conditions of the area during Reconstruction.
a politician who takes up residence in a place and runs for office without having strong ties to the area.
any opportunistic or exploitive outsider.
Our bus company has served this town for years, but now the new one run by carpetbaggers from the city is stealing our business.
carpetbagger
/ ˈɑːɪˌæɡə /
noun
a politician who seeks public office in a locality where he has no real connections
a person who makes a short-term investment in a mutual savings or life-assurance organization in order to benefit from free shares issued following the organization's conversion to a public limited company
a Northern White who went to the South after the Civil War to profit from Reconstruction
Other Word Forms
- carpetbaggery noun
Word History and Origins
Origin of carpetbagger1
Example Sentences
Opponents have painted Democratic Rep. Josh Harder of Turlock as a Bay Area carpetbagger backed by San Francisco elites and tech moguls.
As far as some Virginians were concerned, he was also an integrationist carpetbagger.
There were times when fans were skeptical of “carpetbagger country.”
That will be no mean feat in a district where she is already facing the “carpetbagger” aspersion.
Democrats have branded Hovde as a carpetbagger who left his California mansion to run for Senate in Wisconsin, where he was born and raised.
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When To Use
A carpetbagger is a demeaning term for a politician who runs for office in an area they have no actual ties to.Carpetbagger is always a negative word, implying or accusing someone of exploiting a situation for personal gain.During the U.S.’s Reconstruction period, which followed the American Civil War, carpetbagger referred to white Northerners who moved to the South to easily win political offices. Most experienced Southern politicians were either dead or would have no chance of being elected by new Republican Black voters and Northern sympathizers. White Southerners saw these candidates as trespassing opportunists.Carpetbagger is used more generally to mean any politician seeking office in a geographic area they have no connection to, as in The native Texan running for office in California was criticized by many locals as being a carpetbagger.Carpetbagger is also used more generally to mean any opportunistic outsider, as in The foreign celebrity was called a carpetbagger on social media after he took selfies with local disaster victims and left without helping anyone.Example: Because the candidate had just moved to Minnesota, he was accused of being a carpetbagger and using Minnesota to get a political position.
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