adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Someone who advocates separation from the established Church; a member of any of various sects or schismatic movements.
2. 2
   an advocate of secession or separation from a larger group (such as an established church or a national union) wordnet
3. 3
   A person who advocates or seeks the splitting of one country or territory into two politically independent countries or territories.

   "Near-synonym: secessionist"

Adjective

1. 1
   Advocating ecclesiastical separation. not-comparable
2. 2
   Advocating or seeking the separation of one country or territory into two politically independent countries or territories. not-comparable

   "He is a Scottish nationalist and has a large collection of separatist literature."

Adjective

1. 1
   having separated or advocating separation from another entity or policy or attitude wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

hereticabjuratoryapostatebacksliderbolterbreakaway

Antonyms

All antonyms

centralistfederalistunionist

Example

More examples

"The separatist movement is creating conflict within the country."

Etymology

From separate + -ist.

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