tree-hugger
noun informal, chiefly derogatory
An environmental campaigner (used in reference to the practice of embracing a tree in an attempt to prevent it from being felled): I was apprehensive about near encounters with earnest, granola-crunching tree-huggers...
- I am what one might term a tree-hugger or an enviro-nut; therefore, I reacted with shock to the lack of conservatory measures, and purchased a sandwich (the item that I could find with the least amount of waste).
- Market conservatives tend to see environmentalists as either frivolous tree-huggers or dangerous monkey-wrenching eco-terrorists.
- Few golf-course superintendents will ever be certified tree-huggers (shade trees, after all, can be a problem for sun-loving turf), but that doesn't mean they aren't eco-friendly.
Derivatives
tree-hugging
- Anyone can find fault in the fictional tree-hugging, hemp-shirt wearing, fair-trade-latte - drinking, bongo-hitting hippie that you portray as a leftist, or tear apart the ridiculous arguments he seems to think come from the left.
- When, as tree-hugging, deep-breathing, cardboard-recycling eco-liberals, we began to envision the type of home we'd build, our first instinct was to not cut down a single tree.
- And what happens is that it either degenerates into some form of self-indulgent ego-tripping or it loses itself in tree-hugging or some such specious nonsense.