anarchist
Americannoun
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anarchists
plural
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a person who seeks to overturn by violence all constituted forms and institutions of society and government, with no purpose of establishing any other system of order in the place of that destroyed.
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a person who promotes disorder or excites revolt against any established rule, law, or custom.
noun
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a person who advocates the abolition of government and a social system based on voluntary cooperation
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a person who causes disorder or upheaval
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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semianarchistnoun
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anarchisticadjective
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nonanarchisticadjective
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pseudoanarchisticadjective
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semianarchisticadjective
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unanarchisticadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of anarchist
Explanation
Should you ever decide to form a club for anarchists, you might want to keep this in mind: Running for club president will make you unpopular, since anarchists prefer a stateless society and distrust ruling powers. When the Sex Pistols released "Anarchy in the UK" in 1976, they clashed with Margaret Thatcher's ideal of conservative England. Translated from the Greek, by way of Middle Latin, anarchy means "without a leader," and that's what an anarchist is all about. Given that anarchists reject authority, it's not surprising that there are many types of anarchism, ranging from those that promote the perfect liberty of the individual to those that endorse communist or socialist ideas.
Vocabulary lists containing anarchist
Play by the Rules: Arch
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"The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak, Part Eight
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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.
See Examples For:
She added to the informant on an encrypted messaging app that she had "picked up some anarchist literature at the social justice center" which "could have some good tips."
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
The real-life character most successfully integrated into the narrative flow is the firebrand anarchist Emma Goldman, played with sobriety mixed with fervor by Shaina Taub, the author and star of the musical “Suffs.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025
Outside of the fluttering romance plot and teen hijinks, Kat’s anarchist vibe was bitingly cool, self-assured and unyielding in her feminism and beliefs.
From Salon ● Apr. 8, 2024
“Unrest” is colder still, a documentary-style rewind to a watch factory in 1870s Switzerland whose anarchist employees agitated for a better future that we know isn’t going to happen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 7, 2024
Dr. Talc saw again Mr. Reilly with his massive muffler and that awful girl anarchist with the valise who traveled around with Mr. Reilly and littered the campus with leaflets.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
Tattered sweaters, linen T-shirts, parachute shirts and “bondage suits” are printed with slogans that read “Only anarchists are pretty” and “Anarchist punk gang.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026
He discovered a public more concerned with Progressive Era anti-monopoly reforms that Republicans cast as anti-business, a postwar economic slump, and acts of domestic terrorism committed by anarchists.
From Slate ● Mar. 10, 2026
Naturally, a lot of it was focused on immigrants, hundreds of whom were deported under suspicion of being anarchists.
From Salon ● Dec. 21, 2025
It wasn’t anarchists that ended the ’70s malaise.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 9, 2025
There’s surely an entry on the anarchist playwright Alfred Jarry, who once gave Picasso a Browning pistol—the gun favored by the anarchists.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
