alt-center en · NOUN
Etymology
From alt- + center, an abbreviated form of alternative center, modelled on alt-right and alt-left.
Meanings
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(derogatory, slang, uncountable) A set of centrist ideologies, especially those that delegitimize political dissent and sometimes rely on conspiracy theories, and whose presence is mainly confined to the Internet.
Instead, pundits dismiss the idea of elites as such by trafficking in this silly, alt-center notion that the left and right are chasing equally fictitious boogeymen.
2017 May 18, Adam H. Johnson, “Stop using the term 'populist' for right-wing demagogues”, in Los Angeles Times:If Trump’s devoted hype squad of pustulent, oleaginous neo-Nazis can now be euphemized as the “alt-right,” the Eichenwalds and Jefferys of the world might have turned themselves into something similar: an alt-center, pushing its own failed political doctrine with all the same vehemence, idiocy, and spleen.
2016 December 16, Sam Kriss, “The Rise of the Alt-Center”, in Slate:Now there's been a spate of stories talking about the "alt-left" and even the "alt-center."
2017 March 22, Baynard Woods, “The Kids Are Alt-Right”, in Salt Lake City Weekly:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| alt-centre | alternative | lexicographic |
Coordinates
alt-light · alt-left · alt-right · radical centrism