Dictionary

nation wrecker en · NOUN

Etymology

From nation + wrecker. First use appears c. 1920. See cite below.

Meanings

1. (derogatory, informal) A malicious agent or other influence that destabilizes or destroys a nation or civilization.
   • Genuine education is the surest antidote to ignorance, that proverbial mind-killer and nation-wrecker. 2014, Amos Dele Dada, To the Rescue, page 33:
   • and many more of their disreputable ilk, why isn't his visa lifted and this nation-wrecker sent back to where he came from and post haste? 1972, Pennsylvania State University (publisher), Grain & Feed Journals/Farm Service Centers - Volume 129, page 2:
   • On the one side I see the builders of this country on foundations tried and true. On the other side are those engaged in the cheerful exercise of tearing down. I put the question to you: Are you going to be a nation-builder or a nation-wrecker? 1920, Saskatchewan Co-operative Elevator Company, The Saskatchewan Co-operative News, Volumes 5-7, page 4:
   • Self-determination for indigenous peoples is seen as a potential "nation-wrecker" with the ability to violate a state's claims to absolute sovereignty and political unity. 1994, Pennsylvania State University (publisher), Voices of the Earth - Indigenous Peoples, New Partners & the Right to Self-determination in Practice : Proceedings of the Conference, page 22:
   • The nation-wrecker Olympius was a fanatic "Catholic", as the followers of the dictatorial Church of Rome were called--one of his actions had been to dismiss all non-catholics from all services of the state 1959, Reuven Ben Arje-Lev, Halicha Ladror - The History of All the Great Liberation Movements, of the Jewish Spirit which Created Them, of Modern Civilization and of the New Israel, page 113:
   • "I was born and bred in Kumasi. I have lived with the Zongo people over the years and know a lot of them very well. We are one people," the President said, and added that anybody who wanted to separate the two groups was a nation-wrecker who should be shunned. 2006, Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh (editor), Daily Graphic, Issue 1,49878, October 24 2006, page 3:
   • The years 1949-55 thus gradually revealed Sukarno not just as the nation builder, but as the nation-wrecker. 1964, Willard Anderson Hanna, Eight Nation Makers, page 60:
   • He was called a saboteur, a nation-wrecker, and many other Party words, and then in the end, since he would not stop his talk of justice, he was taken by the police to Accra. 1968, Ayi Kwei Armah, The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born - A Novel, page 112:
   • Blind imitation is wrecking the nation. Which are you deciding for? Would you be a nation builder or a nation wrecker? 2017, Ephraim Amu, Philip T. Laryea (editor and contributor), Patriotism and Nation Building, Perspectives from the Life and Utterances of Ephraim Amu, page 277:
   • You are a lawyer, a Reverend minister, and a nation wrecker. 1989, Adu Otutei, The Cross & The Beast of The South, page 190:

Forms

Coordinates

nation-builder