philosophistn.
/fᵻˈlɒsəfɪst/, U.S. /fəˈlɑsəfəst/ 1. An expert in or student of philosophy; = philosopher n. 1a. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > philosopher > [noun]
philosopher?1316
philosophe1340
divider1588
philosophist1589
philosophizer1676
thinker1830
philosopherling1833
phantasmagorist1862
philosopher's philosopher1879
maître à penser1959
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie i. iv. 6 As they [sc. Poets] were the first obseruers of all naturall causes & effects..they were the first Astronomers and Philosophists.
1920 Jrnl. Negro Hist. 5 383 The first chapter sketches the history of research into the Bantu languages. The contributions of various philosophists are appraised.
1998 Union Leader (Manchester, New Hampsh.) (Nexis) 25 Apr. a6 I'm not a geneticist, I'm not a scientist, I'm only a philosophist.
2. Usually derogatory. An adherent or practitioner of what is held to be erroneous speculation or philosophy; esp. an adherent of any rationalist or sceptical philosophical system.In early use applied spec. to the writers and thinkers of the French Enlightenment.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > scepticism > [noun] > adherent of
philosophister1704
philosophe1721
philosophist1798
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > rationalism > [noun] > philosophy of the Enlightenment > system of the French encyclopedists > adherent of
philosophister1704
illuminator1777
philosophe1779
philosophist1798
1798 W. Taylor in Monthly Rev. 26 529 With the rash ridicule of a French philosophist, who does not..hesitate to extinguish hope, to withdraw consolation, or to abolish restraint.
1799 H. More Strict. Mod. Syst. Fem. Educ. (ed. 4) I. 44 The same allurement..which was employed by the first philosophist to the first sinner—Knowledge.
1829 K. H. Digby Broad Stone of Honour: Godefridus ii. 9 Infidel philosophists and men of the new wisdom, who know of nothing Beyond the senses and their little reign.
a1849 H. Coleridge Ess. & Marginalia (1851) I. 266 Let the Yankee-Gallico-philosophists work their will in the House of Commons and the Court of Chancery, they can hardly make them much worse than they have been.
1857 J. H. Newman Serm. Var. Occ. xi. 220 Time was when philosophists contended that all things went on at random.
1931 Italica 8 65 The other mordent [sic] gibes of the ‘piazza’ against local pedants, philosophists, and the whole crowd of petty glory-curriers.
1993 Daily Mail (Nexis) 27 Aug. 46 I urge you to see it, especially those who look on Priestley..as a cosy, outdated fireside philosophist.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1589