maximalist
nounEtymology From maximal + -ist, by analogy with minimalist.
1
Art, Arts, Entertainment, Lifestyle, Literature, Media, Music, Publishing A person with maximalist beliefs or tendencies; someone who prefers redundancy or excess, especially in the arts.
- Concerning his own purpose in making music, Mr. Babbitt says he would call himself a maximalist: “I try to make music as much as it has ever been or as much as it could be. I may try to put too much into a piece. […]”1982 October 17, Joan Peyser, “Milton Babbitt's Serialism”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- The music, of course, for all of its determined frivolity, is wonderfully eloquent, and composers as diverse as Webern, the great Minimalist, and Mahler, a great “Maximalist,” have come to worship at the shrine.1986 August 24, Tim Page, “Opera: ‘Die Fledermaus’ Gets a Change of Cast”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
4 more examples
- Critics have aptly borrowed those terms to characterize the difference between Mr. Beckett, for example, and his erstwhile master James Joyce, himself a maximalist except in his early works.1986 December 28, John Barth, “A Few Words About Minimalism”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- In the 1960's, he [Peter Gourfain] was a Minimalist, using wood beams to build allusive and ephemeral constructions. This show is primarily concerned with the artist since he became a maximalist.1987 April 3, Michael Brenson, “Works by Gourfain at Brooklyn Museum”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- A maximalist, Mr. [Craig] Baldwin is at once a collector and curator of 20th-century visual culture.2009 January 14, Manohla Dargis, “Star Log: Trippy Sci-Fi Mash-Up Alert!”, in New York Times:
- David Foster Wallace was a maximalist. His masterpiece, Infinite Jest, is a 1,000-page, polyphonic epic about addiction and obsession in millennial America.2015 May 25, Chris Power, “A brief survey of the short story: David Foster Wallace”, in the Guardian:
2
Government, Politics A supporter of an aggressive or expansive foreign policy.
- But on the larger issues, the range of opinion on the best solution runs the gamut from the so‐called hawks, or “maximalists,” as they have come to be known, and the doves, or “minimalists.” The first group would have Israel keep most of the Arab territory she now occupies, and would postpone any significant action on the Palestinian claims until after an over‐all peace agreement was reached with the Arab states.1972 September 17, Terence Smith, “The World”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- The policy, however, will collapse unless it produces results. If the region reverts to another stalemate of “no‐peace, no‐war,” the very cause of the October conflagration, then the initiative will pass to the Arab “maximalists,” the Iraqis, the extremist Palestinians, Colonel Qaddafi.1974 March 31, Edward R. F. Sheehan, “He Likes to Be Liked, and Still Have His Way”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
1 more example
- But now it is clear that there is no common language with the maximalists directed by Syria, and Mr. Arafat has decided to decide.1984 January 4, Amnon Kapeliouk, “Arafat the Diplomat”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
3
Lifestyle, Religion A proponent of Biblical maximalism, one who affirms the historicity of central Biblical narratives.
- The first is reported to represent the secretariat's attempted compromise between the “maximalists” and those who see the further aggrandizement of the cult of Mary as a further obstacle to a dialogue with the Protestants.1964 September 13, “Pope Paul Will Open Session Of Vatican Council Tomorrow”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- The Non-Fundamentalist Maximalists extrapolated from every single archaeological discovery an argument in favor of the authenticity of larger and larger parts of the Bible and used some of the critical Bible study information.2009, Richard A. Freund, Digging through the Bible, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 14:
4
Communism, Government, Human sciences, Ideology, Philosophy, Politics, Sciences Capitalized, Historical, Obsolete A Bolshevik.
- After a firm opening and an hour of fairly well sustained strength the stock market once more suffered a wide break yesterday following the receipt of the news of the overthrow of Kerensky and the announced intention of the Maximalists to propose an immediate peace with Germany.1917 November 9, “Russian News Brings About Another Collapse—Evidenceof Banking Support”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- Mr. Bernstein, who spent three months in Petrograd after the Revolution and had seen the Maximalists at work, said their aim was to bring about utter destruction not only of the freedom of the Jews, but also the freedom of all Russia.1917 November 19, “Jews Against Bolsheviki”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
5
Historical A member of a radical wing split from the Russian Socialist Revolutionary Party in 1906.
6
Historical A member of a radical Marxist party in Italy.
- “Maximalists,” as radical Marxists are called here, and anarchists have always had great influence in Italy's trade‐union movement.[1973 June 19, Paul Hofmann, “Italian Communists Are Asking Workers to Restrict Walkouts”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- Antonyms
- minimalist
- Related terms
- maximalism, maximist