Words & TermsPolitics and public life
chardonnay socialist
A disparaging label for an affluent person with left-wing or progressive politics.
In a sentence
In this historical or contextual use, “chardonnay socialist” means a disparaging label for an affluent person with left-wing or progressive politics.
Where it came from
The Australian National Dictionary Centre documents Chardonnay socialist as an Australian political/social insult emerging in the 1980s.
- Initial era
- 1900–1949
- Where used
- Australian use; no narrower regional pattern established