crusader

noun

cru·​sad·​er krü-ˈsā-dər How to pronounce crusader (audio)
plural crusaders
: one who engages in a crusade: such as
a
Crusader : a person who participated in any of the military expeditions undertaken by Christian powers in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries to win the Holy Land from the Muslims
This is religion as the Crusaders knew it: a battle to the death for souls that if not saved will be forever lost.Benjamin R. Barber
Cleanliness improved during the Middle Ages—particularly after the Crusaders imported the Turkish bath.Winifred Gallagher
Then the church was looted by the Christian crusaders from the West, who converted it for fifty-seven years to the Roman Catholic ritual.Mario Salvadori
b
: a person who makes an impassioned and sustained effort to bring about social or political change
human rights crusaders
an anti-government crusader
Black women lawyers early on were in the forefront of the civil rights struggle. Many women attorneys were crusaders for the poor and needy …Rita E. Hauser

Examples of crusader in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The movement to stop it has been growing for more than two years and has catalyzed different wings of the progressive left — environmentalists, social-justice crusaders, police abolitionists — into a loosely unified front. David Peisner, Rolling Stone, 24 Mar. 2024 Shasta County voters have booted from office a key figure in the county’s hard-right shift, even as the fate of a second far-right crusader on the powerful Board of Supervisors still hangs in the balance. Hailey Branson-Potts, Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 2024 In 2020, anti-corruption crusader and lawyer Navalny, 47, was poisoned with a deadly nerve agent Novichok. Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 20 Feb. 2024 Walton already showed signs of turning activist while West was far from a social crusader, a role on the Lakers that belonged to forward Elgin Baylor, who had greater self-confidence and a life of growing up black in inner-city Washington. Scott Howard-Cooper., Los Angeles Times, 3 Mar. 2024 Playing the Batman role was Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished 11th and whose No. 88 Chevy was decked out in the caped crusader’s décor. David Scott, Charlotte Observer, 30 Jan. 2024 But rather than accept victory, many anti-smoking crusaders now embrace incoherent and seemingly contradictory positions regarding tobacco-harm reduction. Jeffrey A. Singer, National Review, 1 Feb. 2024 Pro-war culture crusaders excoriated celebrities for engaging in erotic high jinks in scanty attire at a trendy Moscow club while Russian troops died on the front. Paul Sonne, New York Times, 22 Jan. 2024 In a powerful first-person essay in People published Wednesday, Hargitay, who has become known for her role as a crusader for survivors with Capt. Olivia Benson on the long-running police procedural, opens up about her rape by a former friend and her struggle to process what happened to her. Taijuan Moorman, USA TODAY, 11 Jan. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'crusader.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1742, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of crusader was in 1742

Dictionary Entries Near crusader

Cite this Entry

“Crusader.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crusader. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

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