mugwump

Meaning

Noun

1. (humorous) A (male) leader; an important (male) person.
2. (US, historical) A member of the Republican Party who declined to support the party's nominee James G. Blaine (1830–1893) during the 1884 United States presidential election, believing him to be corrupt, and instead supported the Democratic Party's candidate Grover Cleveland (1837–1908).
3. (broadly) A person who purports to stay aloof from party politics.
4. (Australia, US, broadly) One who switches from supporting one political party to another, especially for personal benefit.
5. (Australia, US, broadly, colloquial, derogatory) A person who stays neutral or non-committal; a fence sitter; also, a person who maintains an aloof and often self-important demeanour.
6. (Australia) A foolish person.

Verb

1. (US, intransitive) To behave like a mugwump.
2. (US, intransitive) To purport to stay aloof and independent, especially from party politics.

Opposite of

important person, big cheese, big hitter, big wheel, somebody

Synonyms

independent

fencesitter

evenhanded

fair

impartial

boss

nonaligned

nonpartisan

objective

unbiased

uninvolved

neutral

dispassionate

Translations

indépendant

non inscrit

independent

non-inscrite

indipendente

bağımsız kimse

non-inscrit

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈmʌɡwʌmp/

Etymology

The noun is borrowed from Massachusett mugquomp, mummugquomp (“war leader”). Folk etymology reinterpreted it as referring to a person who sat on the fence with their mug (“face”) on one side and wump (“rump”) on the other, which influenced political cartoons during the 1884 United States presidential election.
The verb is derived from the noun.