Definition of "maximalist"
maximalist
adjective
comparative more maximalist, superlative most maximalist
(art, music, literature) Preferring redundancy; tending to do or provide more rather than less.
Quotations
This, his [Frank Stella's] second Museum of Modern Art retrospective, shows him in his second incarnation, turning his back on Minimalist rationality and opting for a “maximalist,” seemingly free-wheeling Baroque complexity that helped set the stage for New-Expressionism.
1987 December 6, Roberta Smith, “Schnabel and Stella: Art, Myth and Ego”, in The New York Times
[Christian] Lacroix's maximalist aesthetic has been at odds with fashion trends in recent years. But fashion is just now beginning to swing back his way, with an emphasis on volume and flounce above sleekness.
2005 January 26, Jess Cartner-Morley, “Ovation for Lacroix as maximalist look makes a comeback”, in The Guardian
At the moment, for example, while a minimalist aesthetic, or the tail end of one, still manifests itself in a lot of painting and music, we are living in age of maximalist novels—books less concerned with le mot juste than with being full-service entertainment centers.
2005 April 17, Charles McGrath, “The Souped-Up, Knock-Out, Total Fiction Experience”, in The New York Times
Such a bustling, maximalist extravaganza is in keeping with the excitable energy of the crowd, who are clearly thrilled to revisit the block-party beats of Cruel Summer and tribal doo-wop of Really Sayin’ Somethin’.
2017 November 14, Graeme Virtue, “Bananarama review – hi-NRG poignancy as pop trio return for first proper tour”, in The Guardian
(politics, diplomacy) Aggressive, expansive.
Quotations
Jo Leinen, 35 years old, a spokesman for the protest coalition, said today that the Soviet-American arms limitation talks in Geneva are a failure, and blamed the Reagan Administration for having taken “a maximalist position” that doomed the negotiations.
1983 October 14, James M. Markham, “West Germans Start Missile Protests”, in The New York Times
So Britain seems to have two foreign policies, a maximalist one based on illusions of the imperial past, and a minimalist one based on fears of the domestic future. It is time some-one put them together.
1997 October 22, Roy Denman, “British Foreign Policy: Riding Off in Two Directions at Once”, in International Herald Tribune
[…] Truman would not make available the resources and the manpower to fix the problem. He had a maximalist moment—and a maximalist document—before him. He was not ready to back a maximalist policy.
2014, Stephen Sestanovich, Maximalist: America in the World from Truman to Obama, Vintage Books, page 49
White’s detention ratchets up the rising tension between Iran and the US, which under Trump has pursued a maximalist campaign against Tehran that includes pulling out of its nuclear deal with world powers.
2019 January 9, “Iran confirms it has detained US navy veteran Michael White”, in The Guardian
The Ukrainian government has noted Mr. Putin has never backed away from his maximalist demands, interpreting the goal of “demilitarizing” and “de-Nazifying” Ukraine as halting Western military assistance and installing a pro-Russian government in Kyiv.
2024 February 9, Paul Sonne, Anton Troianovski, “Putin to U.S.: Let’s Make a Deal on Ukraine (on My Terms)”, in The New York Times
(historical, communism) Relating to far-left communism.
Quotations
His inclusion in the official delegation to Moscow caused surprise today and was seen as indicative of the Italian Communists' aversion to Maximalist currents in international communism.
1961 October 4, Paul Hofmann, “Communists in West Expected to Back Khrushchev Against Soviet and Chinese Left-Wing Extremists”, in The New York Times
noun
plural maximalists
(art, literature, music) A person with maximalist beliefs or tendencies; someone who prefers redundancy or excess, especially in the arts.
Quotations
Concerning his own purpose in making music, Mr. Babbitt says he would call himself a maximalist: “I try to make music as much as it has ever been or as much as it could be. I may try to put too much into a piece. […] ”
1982 October 17, Joan Peyser, “Milton Babbitt's Serialism”, in The New York Times
The music, of course, for all of its determined frivolity, is wonderfully eloquent, and composers as diverse as Webern, the great Minimalist, and Mahler, a great “Maximalist,” have come to worship at the shrine.
1986 August 24, Tim Page, “Opera: ‘Die Fledermaus’ Gets a Change of Cast”, in The New York Times
(politics) A supporter of an aggressive or expansive foreign policy.
Quotations
But on the larger issues, the range of opinion on the best solution runs the gamut from the so‐called hawks, or “maximalists,” as they have come to be known, and the doves, or “minimalists.” The first group would have Israel keep most of the Arab territory she now occupies, and would postpone any significant action on the Palestinian claims until after an over‐all peace agreement was reached with the Arab states.
1972 September 17, Terence Smith, “The World”, in The New York Times
The policy, however, will collapse unless it produces results. If the region reverts to another stalemate of “no‐peace, no‐war,” the very cause of the October conflagration, then the initiative will pass to the Arab “maximalists,” the Iraqis, the extremist Palestinians, Colonel Qaddafi.
1974 March 31, Edward R. F. Sheehan, “He Likes to Be Liked, and Still Have His Way”, in The New York Times
(religion) A proponent of Biblical maximalism, one who affirms the historicity of central Biblical narratives.
Quotations
The first is reported to represent the secretariat's attempted compromise between the “maximalists” and those who see the further aggrandizement of the cult of Mary as a further obstacle to a dialogue with the Protestants.
1964 September 13, “Pope Paul Will Open Session Of Vatican Council Tomorrow”, in The New York Times
The Non-Fundamentalist Maximalists extrapolated from every single archaeological discovery an argument in favor of the authenticity of larger and larger parts of the Bible and used some of the critical Bible study information.
2009, Richard A. Freund, Digging through the Bible, Rowman & Littlefield, page 14
(historical, communism, obsolete, capitalized) A Bolshevik.
Quotations
After a firm opening and an hour of fairly well sustained strength the stock market once more suffered a wide break yesterday following the receipt of the news of the overthrow of Kerensky and the announced intention of the Maximalists to propose an immediate peace with Germany.
1917 November 9, “Russian News Brings About Another Collapse—Evidenceof Banking Support”, in The New York Times
Mr. Bernstein, who spent three months in Petrograd after the Revolution and had seen the Maximalists at work, said their aim was to bring about utter destruction not only of the freedom of the Jews, but also the freedom of all Russia.
1917 November 19, “Jews Against Bolsheviki”, in The New York Times