Word Of The Day: Mugwump

Definitions for mugwump

1. a person who is unable to make up his or her mind on an issue, especially in politics; a person who is neutral on a controversial issue.

Citations for mugwump

I was very anxious to keep him in his place, but at first I could not think of any way to help him, for I was a mugwump. We, the mugwumps, a little company made up of the unenslaved of both parties, the very best men to be found in the two great parties--that was our idea of it--voted sixty thousand strong for Mr. Cleveland in New York and elected him. Mark Twain, "Chapters from My Autobiography.--VII," North American Review, December 7, 1906

Dewey's problem will be to corral the great and growing army of independents and "mugwumps." Mugwumps are those conscientious citizens like the anti-Blaine Republicans of 1884 who, by leaving their party, frequently decide elections. , "Nominee Dewey," Life, July 10, 1944