A neocolonialist is a person, government, or company accused of still controlling another country through money and politics rather than through an old-style empire. The word is also an adjective: neocolonialist policy, neocolonialist thinking. Same idea as neocolonialism — a powerful country using economic and political influence to keep hold of a weaker one — but here the spotlight is on who does it, or on the style of that control. Like the -ism, it is a critical, formal label from politics and history, not a compliment. People who are called neocolonialist almost never choose the word for themselves. Use it when you mean this newer kind of outside control, not when you only mean a country that once had colonies.