keyboard warrior

English

Pronunciation

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Noun

keyboard warrior (plural keyboard warriors)

  1. (Internet slang, derogatory) A person who behaves aggressively or in an inflammatory manner in online textbased discussion media, but does not behave similarly in real life, potentially due to cowardice, introversion or shyness.
    Hypernym: troll
    Near-synonym: keyboard cowboy
    • 2018 February 21, Jeff Pearlman, “Parkland students, ignore the idiots”, in CNN‎[1]:
      According to these keyboard warriors, the young men and women who survived the shooting are part of a big hoax, are liars, are mere cardboard cutouts – “crisis actors” who roam the country looking for mass shootings from which to promote their anti-gun message – all being pushed forward by the giant liberal machine that is Hillary Clinton’s robot attack army.
    • 2021 January 17, Kevin Roose, “A QAnon ‘Digital Soldier’ Marches On, Undeterred by Theory’s Unraveling”, in The New York Times‎[2], →ISSN, archived from the original on 17 January 2021:
      Others are newer converts who have only a vague idea how it all connects. There are law-abiding keyboard warriors as well as violent, unhinged radicals.

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