Definition
The word "Moonie" is derived from the name of Sun Myung Moon, the founder and leader of the Unification Church. The 2002 edition of The World Book Dictionary does not note a negative connotation, defining it simply as: "a follower of Sun Myung Moon"; nor does the 1999 edition of the Webster's II New College Dictionary, which defines it as "a member of the Unification Church established and headed by Sun Myung Moon." The 2009 Random House Dictionary states the word is offensive, and the 2009 Compact Oxford English Dictionary defines it as derogatory in nature. The Dictionary of the Modern Politics of Japan describes it as a colloquial term to refer to a member of the Unification Church.
The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2005), The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2007), and The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English (2008) give a secondary meaning as "any blind, unthinking, unquestioning follower of a philosophy."
The word "Moonie" is also a family name in the United Kingdom. The town of Moonie, Queensland in Australia was founded in 1840. In more recent times it has also been used to refer to fans of the anime character Sailor Moon. See also: Moonie (disambiguation).
Read more about this topic: Moonie (nickname)
Famous quotes containing the word definition:
“... if, as women, we accept a philosophy of history that asserts that women are by definition assimilated into the male universal, that we can understand our past through a male lens—if we are unaware that women even have a history—we live our lives similarly unanchored, drifting in response to a veering wind of myth and bias.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“It’s a rare parent who can see his or her child clearly and objectively. At a school board meeting I attended . . . the only definition of a gifted child on which everyone in the audience could agree was “mine.””
—Jane Adams (20th century)
“The man who knows governments most completely is he who troubles himself least about a definition which shall give their essence. Enjoying an intimate acquaintance with all their particularities in turn, he would naturally regard an abstract conception in which these were unified as a thing more misleading than enlightening.”
—William James (1842–1910)