Luddite
Americannoun
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a member of any of various bands of workers in England (1811–16) organized to destroy manufacturing machinery, under the belief that its use diminished employment.
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someone who is opposed or resistant to new technologies or technological change.
noun
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any of the textile workers opposed to mechanization who rioted and organized machine-breaking between 1811 and 1816
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any opponent of industrial change or innovation
adjective
Other Word Forms
- Luddism noun
- Ludditism noun
Etymology
Origin of Luddite
First recorded in 1805–15; supposedly after Ned Ludd, 18th-century Leicestershire worker who in a fit of rage destroyed mechanical knitting machines; -ite 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Luddite movement, which predated the Swing Riots, was led by textile workers convinced that power-operated looms would permanently impoverish the middle class.
From Barron's
In 1812 Luddites took hammers to knitting machines for fear of jobs.
If you’re reading this review of Gore Verbinski’s maniacal farce “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” in newsprint, congratulations on being a Luddite.
From Los Angeles Times
I’m no Luddite, though I did cling to my BlackBerry, with its winning Lilliputian keyboard, surrendering reluctantly to an iPhone only when the BlackBerry became extinct.
Doctors didn’t grow hostile toward EHRs because they were Luddites; they were simply frustrated with tools that demanded too much and offered too little in return.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
