philosopher

[fi-los-uh-fer]

noun

1. a person who offers views or theories on profound questions in ethics, metaphysics, logic, and other related fields.

2. a person who is deeply versed in philosophy.

3. a person who establishes the central ideas of some movement, cult, etc.

4. a person who regulates their life, actions, judgments, utterances, etc., by the light of philosophy or reason.

5. a person who is rationally or sensibly calm, especially under trying circumstances.

6. Obsolete.,  an alchemist or occult scientist.

philosopher

/ fɪˈlɒsəfə /

noun

1. a student, teacher, or devotee of philosophy

2. a person of philosophical temperament, esp one who is patient, wise, and stoical

3. (formerly) an alchemist or devotee of occult science

4. a person who establishes the ideology of a cult or movement

   the philosopher of the revolution

philosopher

1. Someone who engages in philosophy. Some examples of philosophers are Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, and Plato.

Other Word Forms

• philosophership noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of philosopher¹

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

Earlier in the day the King had visited the Oratory of St Philip Neri in Birmingham, founded by the 19th century Catholic theologian and philosopher, Cardinal John Henry Newman.

From BBC

Before the second bomb struck Nagasaki, French philosopher Albert Camus expressed his horror that even in a war defined by unprecedented, industrialized slaughter, Hiroshima stood apart.

From Salon

"He saw himself as a moral philosopher. He did not see himself as other people saw him. It was the conditions in which people lived that concerned him."

From BBC

András Lánczi, a philosopher widely considered a strong influence on the prime minister, calls it "political realism… Ideas based on experience rather than the utopias and moralising that leftists like so much".

From BBC

As the philosopher Cornelius Castoriadis has observed, there is no democracy without an educated public and no justice without a language to critique injustice.

From Salon

Related Words

• theorist