nation wrecker

English

Etymology

nation +‎ wrecker. First use appears c. 1920. See cite below.

Noun

nation wrecker (plural nation wreckers)

(informal, derogatory, geopolitics) A malicious agent or other influence that destabilizes or destroys a nation or civilization.
Coordinate term: nation-builder
- 1920, Saskatchewan Co-operative Elevator Company, The Saskatchewan Co-operative News, Volumes 5-7, page 4:
  On the one side I see the builders of this country on foundations tried and true. On the other side are those engaged in the cheerful exercise of tearing down. I put the question to you: Are you going to be a nation-builder or a nation-wrecker?
- 1959, Reuven Ben Arje-Lev, Halicha Ladror - The History of All the Great Liberation Movements, of the Jewish Spirit which Created Them, of Modern Civilization and of the New Israel, page 113:
  The nation-wrecker Olympius was a fanatic "Catholic", as the followers of the dictatorial Church of Rome were called--one of his actions had been to dismiss all non-catholics from all services of the state
- 1964, Willard Anderson Hanna, Eight Nation Makers, page 60:
  The years 1949-55 thus gradually revealed Sukarno not just as the nation builder, but as the nation-wrecker.
- 1968, Ayi Kwei Armah, The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born - A Novel, page 112:
  He was called a saboteur, a nation-wrecker, and many other Party words, and then in the end, since he would not stop his talk of justice, he was taken by the police to Accra.
- 1972, Pennsylvania State University (publisher), Grain & Feed Journals/Farm Service Centers - Volume 129, page 2:
  and many more of their disreputable ilk, why isn't his visa lifted and this nation-wrecker sent back to where he came from and post haste?
- 1989, Adu Otutei, The Cross & The Beast of The South, page 190:
  You are a lawyer, a Reverend minister, and a nation wrecker.
- 1994, Pennsylvania State University (publisher), Voices of the Earth - Indigenous Peoples, New Partners & the Right to Self-determination in Practice : Proceedings of the Conference, page 22:
  Self-determination for indigenous peoples is seen as a potential "nation-wrecker" with the ability to violate a state's claims to absolute sovereignty and political unity.
- 2006, Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh (editor), Daily Graphic, Issue 1,49878, October 24 2006, page 3:
  "I was born and bred in Kumasi. I have lived with the Zongo people over the years and know a lot of them very well. We are one people," the President said, and added that anybody who wanted to separate the two groups was a nation-wrecker who should be shunned.
- 2014, Amos Dele Dada, To the Rescue, page 33:
  Genuine education is the surest antidote to ignorance, that proverbial mind-killer and nation-wrecker.
- 2017, Ephraim Amu, Philip T. Laryea (editor and contributor), Patriotism and Nation Building, Perspectives from the Life and Utterances of Ephraim Amu, page 277:
  Blind imitation is wrecking the nation. Which are you deciding for? Would you be a nation builder or a nation wrecker?