mugwump

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: mug=wump

CIDE DICTIONARY

mugwump, n. [Cf. Algonquin mugquomp a chief.].

•  A bolter from the Republican party in the national election of 1884; an Independent.  [1913 Webster]
•  A person who is undecided about an issue, especially a political one; a person who takes a neutral stance on an issue; a fence-sitter.  [PJC]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

mugwump, n. US 1 a great man; a boss.
2 a person who holds aloof, esp. from party politics.

Etymology

Algonquin mugquomp great chief

DEVIL DICTIONARY

mugwump

n. In politics one afflicted with self-respect and addicted to the vice of independence. A term of contempt.

THESAURUS

mugwump

Fabian policy, Micawberism, Milquetoast, anythingarian, apostate, backslider, backwardness, big boy, big chief, big shot, bigwig, bolter, collaborationist, collaborator, convert, defector, deserter, dilatoriness, fence-sitter, fifth columnist, free lance, free spirit, free trader, freethinker, heavyweight, hesitation, high-muck-a-muck, hold-off, independent, individualist, isolationist, jellyfish, latitudinarian, laxness, leader, liberal, libertarian, libertine, lion, nabob, neuter, neutral, nonpartisan, nothingarian, procrastination, proselyte, quisling, recidivist, recreant, remissness, renegade, renegado, renegate, reversionist, rugged individualist, runagate, schismatic, seceder, secessionist, separatist, shilly-shally, slackness, slowness, stall, strikebreaker, swing vote, temporization, tergiversant, tergiversator, third force, third world, traitor, turnabout, turncoat, turntail, uncommitted voter, waverer, weakling, wobbler

ROGET THESAURUS

mugwump

Tergiversation

N tergiversation, change of mind, change of intention, change of purpose, afterthought, tergiversation, recantation, palinode, palinody, renunciation, abjuration, abjurement, defection, going over, apostasy, retraction, retractation, withdrawal, disavowal, revocation, revokement, reversal, repentance, redintegratio amoris, coquetry, vacillation, backsliding, volte-face, turn coat, turn tippet, rat, apostate, renegade, convert, pervert, proselyte, deserter, backslider, blackleg, crawfish, scab, mugwump, recidivist, time server, time pleaser, timist, Vicar of Bray, trimmer, ambidexter, weathercock, Janus, changeful, irresolute, ductile, slippery as an eel, trimming, ambidextrous, timeserving, coquetting, revocatory, reactionary, a change came o'er the spirit of my dream.