Environmentalist
adj, noun ·6 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 One who advocates for the protection of the environment and biosphere from misuse from human activity through such measures as ecosystem protection, waste reduction and pollution prevention.
"This tension is familiar in the lives of most environmentalists. Some own cars; some still eat meat."
- 2 someone who works to protect the environment from destruction or pollution wordnet
- 3 One who holds the view that environment, rather than heredity or culture, is the primary factor in the development of an individual or group.
"As we remarked once before, there are two extreme views with respect to life, one attributing everything to the environment, the other to inherent abilities. If, for example, an unusual number of distinguished men are born and reared in the same locality, the environmentalists assert that the causes for their appearance were entirely external and that had their parents changed habitats with those residing elsewhere the result would have been the same, except that the family names of these eminent men would have been different."
- 1 Of, or relating to environmentalism.
"The environmentalist explanation would be that tropical environment retards or depresses culture through its physiological effect on the human organism."
Example
More examples"The author of "The Last of the Mohicans", James Fenimore Cooper, was the first environmentalist."
Etymology
From environmental + -ist.
Related phrases
More for "environmentalist"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.