Mugwumps

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈmʌɡwʌmps/

Definitions

1. A person who remains aloof or independent, particularly in politics; one who is disloyal to their party or group for personal gain; historically, a member of a faction that separated from the Republican Party in the late 19th century
2. An individual who avoids partisan entanglements, often making independent choices; someone who shifts loyalties based on personal improvements; specifically, a member of a political group during the 1884 presidential campaign that endorsed Grover Cleveland
3. A voter who abstains from party loyalty, choosing personal principles over allegiance; a person who opportunistically detaches from their party for better outcomes; originally, a term for those who favored reform and opposed corruption in politics during the 19th century

Etymology: "Mugwump" is a borrowing from an Algonquian language, where a term resembling it is generally understood to have meant something like "big chief" or leader. English took it up as a mocking label for a self-important person, and that sense of pomposity is what the word carried before politics claimed it. In American politics the term became a label for voters who would not follow their party's choice of candidate and stayed independent instead. The joke was that these voters saw themselves as too important to be led, so a word for a self-appointed leader came to name the people who refused to fall in line.