crusader

From crusade +‎ -er.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɹuːˈseɪdə/

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /kɹuˈseɪdɚ/
• Rhymes: -eɪdə(ɹ)

crusader (plural crusaders)

1. (historical) A fighter in the medieval Crusades who had taken the Cross.
   • 1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 20, in The Dust of Conflict‎:

     Tony's face expressed relief, and Nettie sat silent for a moment until the vicar said “It was a generous impulse, but it may have been a momentary one, while in the case of monk and crusader there must have been a sustaining purpose, and possibly a great abnegation, a leaving of lands and possessions.”

   the crusaders of the Middle Ages

2. (figurative) A person engaged in a crusade.
3. (Islam, politics, derogatory, Islamism) An American, especially a soldier or leader who wages war against Islamist militants.
   • 1998, Osama Bin Laden

     Second, despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge number of those killed, which has exceeded 1 million... despite all this, the Americans are once against trying to repeat the horrific massacres, as though they are not content with the protracted blockade imposed after the ferocious war or the fragmentation and devastation.

4. (Islam, politics, derogatory, Islamism, religious slur) A Westerner; a Christian, especially of European descent or a missionary.
5. (Islam, politics, derogatory, Islamism) (either attributively or in the plural) The United States and its Western allies.

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “crusader”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.