ideological

UK/ˌaɪ.diː.əˈlɒd͡ʒ.ɪ.kəl/US/ˌaɪ.di.əˈlɑ.d͡ʒɪ.kəl/

adjectiveC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,492 of 15,258leans written

Ideological means driven by a system of political or social beliefs. An ideological divide, ideological purity, ideologically driven.

It is nearly always used of the other side, since your own position is principle and theirs is ideology. Calling a decision ideological says it was made from doctrine rather than from evidence.

Definitions of ideological

1adjectiveideologicalDriven by a system of political or social beliefs.C1
“The two parties have deep ideological differences about the role of the state.”

ideological is a quality.

Where it comes from

French
idéologie
English
ideology
English, today
ideological

From ideology + -ical. ideology French idéologie, from idéo- + -logie (equivalent to English ideo- + -logy). Cognate with, but not derived from, idea. Coined 1796 by Antoine Destutt de Tracy. Modern sense of “doctrine” attributed to use of related idéologue (“ideologue”) by Napoleon Bonaparte as a term of abuse towards political opponents in early 1800s.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

ideological in the wild

Alan Wolfe defines ideological repression as "the attempt to manipulate people's consciousness so they accept the ruling ideology, and distrust and refuse to be moved by competing ideologies".
Ideological repression
In the early days of the Soviet Union and in other countries, ideological repression was carried out by political repression of the carriers of competing ideologies.
Ideological repression

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the idéologie family

ideology ideological

ideological — used about once every 23,598 pages · #13,492 · point at the bar for the others

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