Claimant

noun

noun ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    One who claims; one who makes a claim.

    "“Two or three months more went by ; the public were eagerly awaiting the arrival of this semi-exotic claimant to an English peerage, and sensations, surpassing those of the Tichbourne case, were looked forward to with palpitating interest.[…]”"

  2. 2
    someone who claims a benefit or right or title wordnet
  3. 3
    A person receiving money from the government, in a form of unemployment benefits, disability benefits or similar. UK
  4. 4
    The party who initiates a lawsuit before a court.

Example

More examples

"Malcolm's mother was the sister of the Earl of Northumberland. So the son of Duncan was half-English; and he became more than half-English when, somewhat later, he married Margaret, sister of his friend and guest, "Edgar the Atheling," last claimant of the Saxon throne, who had taken refuge with him while vainly plotting against William the Conqueror."

Etymology

From Old French and Anglo-Norman clamant, present participle of the verb clamer and its variants, from Latin clāmō (“to cry out”), equivalent to claim + -ant. Compare clamant.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.