anarchist
Americannoun
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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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Life Is So Good
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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.
Mr. Wilson’s book “made anarchism’s ideas accessible,” said Cara Hoffman, a novelist and one of the founders of The Anarchist Review of Books, a print journal.
From New York Times • Jun. 11, 2022
"Get on your bed, your kitchen table, your couch - and jump!" exclaimed the musician, staring down the barrel of a camera as he played the recent single Anarchist.
From BBC • Mar. 17, 2020
But by time they got close to the housing complex, an organizer with Anarchist People of Color told them to turn back.
From Salon • Aug. 20, 2017
Since the turn of the century, Mark Kennedy and Lynn Watson have been sent to spy on environmental campaigns, while Marco Jacobs infiltrated the Cardiff Anarchist Network and Simon Wellings an anti-capitalist group, Global Resistance.
From The Guardian • Jul. 27, 2017
Restless impatience thrilled the community from castle to cottage, intensified by the vain clamourings of Anarchist mobs in the greater towns.
From The Great War in England in 1897 by Le Queux, William
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.
