Definition of "card-carrying" [card-carrying]

• Being an enrolled member of a particular organization: a card-carrying Communist. (adjective)
• Avidly devoted to a group or cause: card-carrying fitness enthusiasts. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Once the samples are in the lab, researchers have a suite of techniques at their disposal to hunt around for microbe DNA, and specifically for 16S rRNA, a gene that Colwell called "card-carrying evidence that you are alive.""
• "A card-carrying cold warrior, he secretly sold weapons to Iran and Iraq, illegally funded the Nicaraguan Contras, provided aid to a Guatemalan army later accused by a UN-backed truth commission of carrying out "acts of genocide", and supported Osama bin Laden's mujahideen in Afghanistan, and Jonas Savimbi's Unita in Angola."
• "But it was picked up by radio host, former Seattelite, and friend John Moe (@johnmoe), who followed my efforts with his more professionally humorous entries (he is a card-carrying humor professional, after all):"