Conservative vs. Radical — What's the Difference?
Edited by Tayyaba Rehman — By Urooj Arif — Updated on May 7, 2024
Conservative refers to maintaining traditional views and resisting change, while radical describes advocating for significant changes or reforms, often to alter established norms.
Difference Between Conservative and Radical
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Conservatives emphasize traditional values and are cautious about sudden changes in political, social, or economic systems. Radicals, on the other hand, actively push for fundamental shifts, seeking to transform systems they see as outdated or unjust.
Conservatives aim to preserve established norms and institutions, believing gradual evolution is better for stability. Radicals oppose gradualism, arguing that meaningful progress requires direct action to overturn entrenched systems.
Conservatives typically align with political or social ideologies favoring a limited role of government in economic regulation and social welfare. Radicals, in contrast, promote far-reaching reforms to address systemic issues like inequality or discrimination.
Conservatives often resist disruptive policies, advocating for stability and continuity. Radicals see disruptive policies as essential, pushing for swift implementation of reforms to address perceived systemic failures.
Conservatives believe in conserving cultural, moral, or religious traditions, viewing them as foundational. Radicals are often more progressive, advocating for new norms and ideas that challenge traditional beliefs.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
Advocates for maintaining traditional values
Promotes fundamental societal or systemic change
Approach
Gradual, cautious change
Rapid, transformational change
Political Beliefs
Supports limited government, traditional norms
Supports direct reforms for systemic issues
Attitude to Policies
Resists disruptive policies for stability
Embraces disruptive policies for swift change
Cultural Attitude
Preserves cultural and religious traditions
Challenges traditions with progressive ideas
Compare with Definitions
Conservative
Favoring traditional views or values.
The conservative community opposed the new education policy.
Radical
Advocating for fundamental, transformative changes.
The radical politician called for a complete overhaul of the healthcare system.
Conservative
Associated with right-wing political ideology.
The conservative party advocated for reduced government spending.
Radical
Going to the root or source of an issue.
Radical treatment was necessary to address the underlying disease.
Conservative
Marked by moderation or caution.
His conservative estimates ensured the budget remained balanced.
Radical
Related to progressive or left-wing ideologies.
Her radical proposals were popular among the younger generation.
Conservative
Seeking to preserve established systems or beliefs.
The organization took a conservative stance on the controversial issue.
Radical
Describing drastic shifts in thought or action.
The CEO implemented radical changes to turn the company around.
Conservative
Reluctant to embrace sudden changes.
She has a conservative investment strategy to minimize risk.
Radical
Referring to reforms that significantly alter structures.
The activists pushed for radical solutions to climate change.
Conservative
Favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change.
Radical
Arising from or going to a root or source; basic
Proposed a radical solution to the problem.
Conservative
Traditional or restrained in style
A conservative dark suit.
Radical
Departing markedly from the usual or customary; extreme or drastic
A radical change in diet.
Conservative
Moderate; cautious
A conservative estimate.
Radical
Relating to or advocating fundamental or revolutionary changes in current practices, conditions, or institutions
Radical politics.
A radical political theorist.
Conservative
Of or relating to the political philosophy of conservatism.
Radical
(Medicine) Relating to or being surgery that is extreme or drastic in an effort to eradicate all existing or potential disease
Radical hysterectomy.
Conservative
Belonging to a conservative party, group, or movement.
Radical
(Linguistics) Of or being a root
A radical form.
Conservative
Conservative Of, designating, or characteristic of a political party founded on or associated with principles of social and political conservatism, especially in the United Kingdom or Canada.
Radical
Of, relating to, or arising from a root
Radical hairs.
Conservative
Conservative Of or adhering to Conservative Judaism.
Radical
Arising from the base of a stem or from a below-ground stem or rhizome
Radical leaves.
Conservative
Tending to conserve; preservative
The conservative use of natural resources.
Radical
(Slang) Excellent; wonderful.
Conservative
One favoring traditional views and values.
Radical
One who advocates fundamental or revolutionary changes in current practices, conditions, or institutions
Radicals seeking to overthrow the social order.
Conservative
A supporter of political conservatism.
Radical
(Mathematics) The root of a quantity as indicated by the radical sign.
Conservative
Conservative A member or supporter of a Conservative political party.
Radical
Symbol R An atom or a group of atoms with one unpaired electron.
Conservative
A person who favors maintenance of the status quo.
Radical
(Linguistics) See root1.
Conservative
(politics) One who opposes changes to the traditional institutions of their country.
Radical
Any of the basic Chinese characters that are combined to form more complex characters.
Conservative
A person who favors decentralization of political power and disfavors interventionist foreign policy.
Radical
Any of the traditional set of basic strokes or groups of strokes that make up Chinese characters and are used to classify and organize them in dictionaries.
Conservative
A fiscal conservative.
Radical
Favoring fundamental change, or change at the root cause of a matter.
His beliefs are radical.
Conservative
A social conservative.
Radical
Pertaining to a root of a plant.
Conservative
Cautious, moderate.
The chef added a conservative amount of salt to the dish.
Radical
Pertaining to the basic or intrinsic nature of something.
Conservative
Tending to resist change or innovation.
The curriculum committee at this university is extremely conservative.
Radical
Thoroughgoing; far-reaching.
The spread of the cancer required radical surgery, and the entire organ was removed.
Conservative
Based on pessimistic assumptions.
At a conservative estimate, growth may even be negative next year.
Radical
Of or pertaining to the root of a word.
Conservative
Supporting some combination of fiscal, political or social conservatism.
Radical
Produced using the root of the tongue.
Conservative
Relating to the Conservative Party.
Radical
Involving free radicals.
Conservative
Neither creating nor destroying a given quantity.
Radical
(math) Relating to a radix or mathematical root.
A radical quantity; a radical sign
Conservative
Having power to preserve in a safe or entire state, or from loss, waste, or injury; preservative.
Radical
Excellent; awesome.
That was a radical jump!
Conservative
(Judaism) Relating to Conservative Judaism.
Radical
A member of the most progressive wing of the Liberal Party; someone favouring social reform (but generally stopping short of socialism).
Conservative
(clothing) Conventional, traditional, and moderate in style and appearance; not extreme, excessive, faddish, or intense.
Radical
A member of an influential, centrist political party favouring moderate social reform, a republican constitution, and secular politics.
Conservative
(medicine) Not including any operation or intervention (said of a treatment, see conservative treatment)
Radical
A person with radical opinions.
Conservative
Having power to preserve in a safe of entire state, or from loss, waste, or injury; preservative.
Radical
(arithmetic) A root (of a number or quantity).
Conservative
Tending or disposed to maintain existing institutions; opposed to change or innovation.
Radical
(linguistics) In logographic writing systems such as the Chinese writing system, the portion of a character (if any) that provides an indication of its meaning, as opposed to phonetic.
Conservative
Of or pertaining to a political party which favors the conservation of existing institutions and forms of government, as the Conservative party in England; - contradistinguished from Liberal and Radical.
We have always been conscientiously attached to what is called the Tory, and which might with more propriety be called the Conservative, party.
Radical
(linguistics)Celtic In Celtic languages, refers to the basic, underlying form of an initial consonant which can be further mutated under the Celtic initial consonant mutations.
Conservative
One who, or that which, preserves from ruin, injury, innovation, or radical change; a preserver; a conserver.
The Holy Spirit is the great conservative of the new life.
Radical
(linguistics)Semitic linguistics In Semitic languages, any one of the set of consonants (typically three) that make up a root.
Conservative
One who desires to maintain existing institutions and customs; also, one who holds moderate opinions in politics; - opposed to revolutionary or radical.
Radical
(chemistry) A group of atoms, joined by covalent bonds, that take part in reactions as a single unit.
Conservative
A member of the Conservative party.
Radical
(organic chemistry) A free radical.
Conservative
A person who has conservative ideas or opinions
Radical
Given an ideal I in a commutative ring R, another ideal, denoted Rad(I) or , such that an element x ∈ R is in Rad(I) if, for some positive integer n, xn ∈ I; equivalently, the intersection of all prime ideals containing I.
Conservative
Resistant to change
Radical
Given a ring R, an ideal containing elements of R that share a property considered, in some sense, "not good".
Conservative
Opposed to liberal reforms
Radical
The intersection of maximal submodules of a given module.
Conservative
Avoiding excess;
A conservative estimate
Radical
(number theory) The product of the distinct prime factors of a given positive integer.
Conservative
Unimaginatively conventional;
A colorful character in the buttoned-down, dull-gray world of business
Radical
Of or pertaining to the root; proceeding directly from the root.
Conservative
Conforming to the standards and conventions of the middle class;
A bourgeois mentality
Radical
Hence: Of or pertaining to the root or origin; reaching to the center, to the foundation, to the ultimate sources, to the principles, or the like; original; fundamental; thorough-going; unsparing; extreme; as, radical evils; radical reform; a radical party.
The most determined exertions of that authority, against them, only showed their radical independence.
Radical
Belonging to, or proceeding from, the root of a plant; as, radical tubers or hairs.
Radical
Relating, or belonging, to the root, or ultimate source of derivation; as, a radical verbal form.
Radical
Of or pertaining to a radix or root; as, a radical quantity; a radical sign. See below.
Radical
A primitive word; a radix, root, or simple, underived, uncompounded word; an etymon.
The words we at present make use of, and understand only by common agreement, assume a new air and life in the understanding, when you trace them to their radicals, where you find every word strongly stamped with nature; full of energy, meaning, character, painting, and poetry.
Radical
One who advocates radical changes in government or social institutions, especially such changes as are intended to level class inequalities; - opposed to conservative.
In politics they [the Independents] were, to use the phrase of their own time, "Root-and-Branch men," or, to use the kindred phrase of our own, Radicals.
Radical
A characteristic, essential, and fundamental constituent of any compound; hence, sometimes, an atom.
As a general rule, the metallic atoms are basic radicals, while the nonmetallic atoms are acid radicals.
Radical
Specifically, a group of two or more atoms, not completely saturated, which are so linked that their union implies certain properties, and are conveniently regarded as playing the part of a single atom; a residue; - called also a compound radical. Cf. Residue.
Radical
(chemistry) two or more atoms bound together as a single unit and forming part of a molecule
Radical
An atom or group of atoms with at least one unpaired electron; in the body it is usually an oxygen molecule than has lost an electron and will stabilize itself by stealing an electron from a nearby molecule;
In the body free radicals are high-energy particles that ricochet wildly and damage cells
Radical
A person who has radical ideas or opinions
Radical
A character conveying the lexical meaning of a logogram
Radical
A sign placed in front of an expression to denote that a root is to be extracted
Radical
(linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed;
Thematic vowels are part of the stem
Radical
(used of opinions and actions) far beyond the norm;
Extremist political views
Radical opinions on education
An ultra conservative
Radical
Markedly new or introducing radical change;
A revolutionary discovery
Radical political views
Radical
Arising from or going to the root;
A radical flaw in the plan
Radical
Of or relating to or constituting a linguistic root;
A radical verb form
Radical
Especially of leaves; located at the base of a plant or stem; especially arising directly from the root or rootstock or a root-like stem;
Basal placentation
Radical leaves
Common Curiosities
Do conservatives reject all changes?
Not entirely; conservatives prefer gradual change that maintains stability.
What is a conservative viewpoint?
A conservative viewpoint focuses on preserving traditional values and resisting drastic societal changes.
What does radical mean in politics?
In politics, radical refers to advocating for comprehensive changes to alter existing systems or norms.
Do conservatives support traditional family values?
Yes, conservatives often emphasize the importance of traditional family structures and values.
Can conservative policies affect cultural norms?
Yes, conservative policies often influence societal norms by reinforcing traditional cultural values.
Can someone be conservative and radical at the same time?
It's rare, as these ideologies are fundamentally different in their approach to change.
How do conservatives view economic policies?
Conservatives typically support free-market principles and limited government intervention.
Are conservatives and radicals always politically opposed?
Generally, yes, since conservatives resist the significant changes that radicals often promote.
Why do conservatives resist rapid policy changes?
They believe rapid changes can cause instability and undermine established institutions.
Do radicals align with a specific political ideology?
Radicals often align with progressive or left-wing ideologies but can exist across the political spectrum.
How do radicals view gradual reforms?
Radicals generally consider gradual reforms inadequate for addressing systemic issues.
Are radical movements violent?
Not necessarily; radical movements can be nonviolent, but their approaches often vary.
What kind of changes do conservatives usually promote?
They promote incremental changes that uphold existing traditions and systems.
Are radicals always progressive?
While often progressive, radicals may also advocate extreme shifts toward traditional or authoritarian systems.
Is radicalism always extreme?
Not necessarily, but it often involves transformative approaches that significantly depart from the status quo.
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Written by
Urooj ArifUrooj is a skilled content writer at Ask Difference, known for her exceptional ability to simplify complex topics into engaging and informative content. With a passion for research and a flair for clear, concise writing, she consistently delivers articles that resonate with our diverse audience.
Edited by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
