Definition of "loyalist" []

• One who maintains loyalty to an established government, political party, or sovereign, especially during war or revolutionary change. (noun)
• See Tory. (noun)
• One who supported the established government of Spain during the Spanish Civil War. (noun)

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.

• "I think the term loyalist and unionist are getting mixed up in this thread,"
• "Membership of the main loyalist group, the UDA, was not at that stage illegal."
• "Kremlin loyalist Sergei Sobyanin has been named to succeed Mr. Luzhkov, and the interim mayor has suspended construction of a museum in front of the Kremlin, a Luzhkov-backed project that enraged preservationists."