Dictionary

whiggish en · ADJ

Etymology

Etymology tree English Whig Proto-Indo-European *-iskos Proto-Germanic *-iskaz Proto-West Germanic *-isk Old English -isċ Middle English -isch English -ish English whiggish From Whig + -ish.

Meanings

1. (historical) Characteristic of a Whig; liberal.
2. (capitalized, often) Characterized by a belief in inevitable progress, and tending to evaluate the past by the standards of the present; see Whig history.
   • Because this whiggish view depends on the expectation of progress, liberal politicians are more suspectible to it than their conservative brethren. 2015 December 21, David A. Graham, “The Wrong Side of 'the Right Side of History'”, in The Atlantic:
   • Abilafia’s article is a classic example of an old-fashioned “Whiggish” narrative. It claims a uniquely moderate and progressive advance toward the development of British institutions, traced continuously from Magna Carta and isolated from the rages and radicalism of the Continent. 2015 May 15, Rebekah Higgitt, “Beware Eurosceptic versions of history and science”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
   • Finally, whiggish narratives, strewn with heroes, only hinder understanding of how the world works. 2012 October 3, Rebekah Higgitt, “Why whiggish won't do”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
   • Near-synonym: presentist
   • Of course, the reason we know all this—the reason the episode keeps turning up in Whiggish histories of technology—is that Plato wrote it down. 2025 October 26, Kwame Anthony Appiah, “The Age of De-Skilling”, in The Atlantic:

Forms

Deriveds

whiggishness · whiggishly