One who adheres to the principles of socialism. Based off the acceptance of one or all of Karl Marx's ideals as displayed in "The Communist Manifesto". The point being equal distribution of wealth so as to alleviate poverty.
The right wing tends to insult those who call themselves socialist by saying that, "they're lazy" and "they want our hard earned money to sit on their ass and not be productive." These claims are completely unfounded as most socialist states have below 1% unemployment as opposed to capitalistic nations, EX: the U.S. Standing at 9% unemployment.
Socialists differ from the idea of a communist in that one does not need to be atheist. The system and deliberation of labor are also different as within a socialist society, one is free to choose their occupation which leads to people doing what they're good at as opposed to a dead end job leading to more productivity and happiness.
Some of the most effective countries on the planet have been socialist in certain points in history including, Vietnam, Cuba, and France.

A person who believes in an equal and communally beneficial system of government. Someone who supports such ideas as:
*Public Health-care
*Regulated economic market (no monopolies- therefore more selection for the public)
*A smaller rich/poor divide.
*a generally higher tax rate in exchange for high quality public services and transport etc.

on the politcal compass- they can be found in the bottom left quadrant.

Capitalist= Right Wing
Socialist= Left Wing

commonly mis-associated with a communist

Anyone who is not a hard right-wing republican. Often used interchangeably with Marxist.

When you don't want to admit your a communist, so you make up a new word that means the same thing

A socialist is someone who stands for free health care, education and overall better social health and quality of life. This does not involve an unrealistic 'take from the rich, give to the poor' notion, but alternative fiscal and monetary policies to ensure a healthy nation, not just a healthy economy.

Not to be confused with communism, which offers little incentives for people to work.

A person who thinks that the hard working people should share their paychecks with their lazy neighbors, just because they have more money. Even though they worked hard for their money, they should still give it to their neighbor who sits on their couch watching tv all day, because it wouldn't be FAIR if the hard worker had more money.

Socialists also tend to think that the hard working people should pay for their lazy neighbor to go to the hospital as well. Kind of like Barack Obama. Even though the lazy neighbor is completely useless and spent their Obama Check on beer and cigarettes, hardworking people should pay for their healthcare. The hardworking person only wants to keep their money because they're a greedy asshole, not because they worked hard for it or anything.

A word Republicans often use as a scare tactic against their rivals, the Democrats. The Democrats ignore the term and don't defend themselves. They afraid to explain that Socialism is OK in small amounts, because then they will be called communist.

Someone who tries to make things free such as college but fails to realize someone has to pay for it

Someone who want free shit so they can be lazy and not work.