Reformist

adj, noun

adj, noun ·3 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    One who advocates reform (of an institution).
  2. 2
    a disputant who advocates reform wordnet
  3. 3
    Specifically, one who advocates reform of society and the gradual accumulation of small changes, as opposed to revolutionary action.
  4. 4
    An advocate of reform in the Church of England; a Reformer. dated
  5. 5
    An advocate or supporter of political reform in the United Kingdom. (Common from ca 1790 to 1830.) dated, obsolete
Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    A member of a reformed religious denomination.
Adjective
  1. 1
    Advocating reform of an institution or body.

    "[...] all the prose is German, all reformist, all moralising, and has little or practically no echo of antiquity."

  2. 2
    Specifically, advocating reform and the gradual accumulation of small changes, as opposed to revolutionary action.
Adjective
  1. 1
    favoring or promoting reform (often by government action) wordnet

Example

More examples

"Pedro is my mocha-toned Spanish-speaking friend form Ecuador. He is part-Inca. He lives economically, but has political ambitions. He partook in my meditation classes in the Thai temple, Wat Yanviriya, in Vancouver, BC. He once knew Esperanto and felt like a reformist of it."

Etymology

From reform + -ist. Originated around the end of the 16th century.

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