If someone is nationalistic, they believe — often loudly — that their own country is better, more important, or more deserving than other countries, and they want politics and daily life to show it. The word is stronger than patriotic, and in careful English it usually leans negative. Patriotic can be a quiet love of home, a flag on a holiday, a lump in the throat at a song. Nationalistic is that feeling turned into a ranking: we are above you. News writers use it about parties, speeches, schoolbooks, and crowds. Calling a person or a policy nationalistic is often a criticism, though the people it describes may call themselves proud or patriotic instead. It is about attitude, not about the government owning factories (that is nationalize).