banana republic
nounDefinition of banana republic
: a small dependent country usually of the tropics
especially
: one run despotically
Examples of banana republic in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
If this is a banana republic with a few very, very rich people and everyone else living in misery, that’s a failure. — Casey Tolan, The Mercury News, "Tom Steyer joins presidential race, reversing earlier decision not to run," 9 July 2019 Marshall was one of the many kind colleagues who took me under their wing and taught me how to live in this wonderful banana republic and appreciate its unique charms. — Jeff Duncan, nola.com, "My front row seat to the Golden Age of New Orleans sports," 28 June 2019 Two, in some of these places where WhatsApp becomes a source of every horrible rumor in these third-world banana republics these days. — Eric Johnson, Recode, "Full Q&A: NBC journalists Chuck Todd, Andrea Mitchell and Hallie Jackson on Recode Decode," 5 Dec. 2018 Managers, who have the shelf life of banana republic dictators, hit bricks more than Padres hit baseballs. — Nick Canepa, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Padres' Green playing the hand he has been dealt," 13 May 2018 Increasingly, the United States — which had long been a symbol of stability and seriousness — is being seen as a banana republic, or, rather, a once serious nation run by an unstable egomaniac. — Andrés Oppenheimer, miamiherald, "Even Latin America worries that White House chaos is a sign of U.S. instability | Miami Herald," 13 Mar. 2018 One of the things that keeps the United States from turning into a banana republic is the cynical, often hypocritical attacks on corruption employed by both parties. — Chris Stirewalt, Fox News, "The worst kind of crooks," 17 Apr. 2018 Rather than address Trump’s unfitness, GOP leaders (and Trump) are plunging America into banana republic-style authoritarianism. — Will Bunch, Philly.com, "Actually, the most insane thing about 'stable genius' Trump may be his policies | Will Bunch," 7 Jan. 2018 That, like in some small, faraway banana republic, there is no longer an independent system of justice. — Will Bunch, Philly.com, "Trump looks ready to fire Mueller. There's no guarantee this ends like Watergate | Will Bunch," 12 Dec. 2017These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'banana republic.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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