Mercantilist

adj, noun

adj, noun ·4 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    One who believes in mercantilism.

    "On this point there was no difference between mercantilists and feudalists, between crowned planners and vested interests, between centralizing bureaucrats and conservative particularists."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of, pertaining to, or believing in mercantilism.

    "According to the mercantilist thinking that dominated European thought between the 16th and 18th centuries, poverty was socially useful. True, it was miserable for the poor. But it also kept the economic engine humming by ensuring the availability of plentiful cheap labour."

Example

More examples

"According to the mercantilist thinking that dominated European thought between the 16th and 18th centuries, poverty was socially useful. True, it was miserable for the poor. But it also kept the economic engine humming by ensuring the availability of plentiful cheap labour."

Etymology

From mercantile + -ist.

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