carpetbagger
/ˈkɑːpɪtˌbæɡər/ noun [C]Definition
› US disapproving POLITICS a politician who runs for election in a place where he or she does not live or has only lived for a short time: People do not want interference from here today, gone tomorrow, political carpetbaggers.
› UK disapproving BANKING a person who joins a mutual organization (= one that is owned by its members rather than by shareholders) hoping that it will become a company with shares and pay its members to agree: The building society is finalizing its defence against carpetbaggers who have forced a demutualization vote.
(Definition of carpetbagger noun from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary
© Cambridge University Press)
Our dictionaries
Browse the Thesaurus
Browse the Dictionary
Word of the Day
Blog
Read our blog about how the English language behaves.
New Words
Find words and meanings that have just started to be used in English, and let us know what you think of them.
