philosopher
Americannoun
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a person who offers views or theories on profound questions in ethics, metaphysics, logic, and other related fields.
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a person who is deeply versed in philosophy.
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a person who establishes the central ideas of some movement, cult, etc.
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a person who regulates their life, actions, judgments, utterances, etc., by the light of philosophy or reason.
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a person who is rationally or sensibly calm, especially under trying circumstances.
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Obsolete. an alchemist or occult scientist.
noun
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a student, teacher, or devotee of philosophy
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a person of philosophical temperament, esp one who is patient, wise, and stoical
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(formerly) an alchemist or devotee of occult science
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a person who establishes the ideology of a cult or movement
the philosopher of the revolution
Other Word Forms
- philosophership noun
Etymology
Origin of philosopher
First recorded before 900; Middle English, variant of philosophre from Anglo-French ( Middle French philosophe, from Latin philosophus ); replacing Old English philosoph, from Latin philosophus, from Greek philósophos “philosopher,” equivalent to philo- philo- + soph(ía) “wisdom” ( -sophy ) + -os noun suffix
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.
“O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous,” Voltaire, the 18th-century French enlightenment philosopher, himself known for his bons mots, once wrote, adding: “God granted my prayer.”
Before that, consciousness studies was relegated to the humanities — philosophers, writers, artists.
From Los Angeles Times
Sayers commended the philosopher for anticipating “the great modern theory of fair-play” that defined these works: The author must present all the clues necessary for solving the mystery while misleading the reader about their import.
He sounds thoughtful now, like a philosopher musing about the meaning of life.
From Literature
"The concept of time has troubled philosophers and physicists for thousands of years, and the advent of quantum mechanics has not simplified the problem," says Professor Hugo Dil, a physicist at EPFL.
From Science Daily
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.
