Jingoism, an attitude of belligerent nationalism, or a blind adherence to the rightness or virtue of one’s own nation, society, or group, simply because it is one’s own. The term is the approximate equivalent of chauvinism (in one of its meanings), originally a French word ( chauvinisme) denoting excessive or irrational patriotism.

The term jingoism refers to a nation’s aggressive foreign policy which has been propelled by public opinion. The word was coined in the 1870s, during an episode in Britain’s perennial conflicts with the Russian Empire, when a popular music hall song urging military action contained the phrase, “by Jingo.”