anarchist

[an-er-kist]

noun

1. a person who advocates or believes in anarchy or anarchism.

2. 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.

3. a person who promotes disorder or excites revolt against any established rule, law, or custom.

anarchist

/ ˈænəkɪst /

noun

1. a person who advocates the abolition of government and a social system based on voluntary cooperation

2. a person who causes disorder or upheaval

Other Word Forms

• anarchistic adjective
• nonanarchistic adjective
• pseudoanarchistic adjective
• semianarchist noun
• semianarchistic adjective
• unanarchistic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of anarchist¹

First recorded in 1670–80; anarch(y) + -ist

Example Sentences

Monday-morning protest quarterbacks would insist that the anarchists who began smashing windows were chaos agents planted by the city or possibly the Feds.

From Salon

McDonnell drew a distinction between protesters and masked “anarchists” who he said were bent on exploiting the state of unrest to vandalize property and attack police.

From Los Angeles Times

Netanyahu has lashed out at the protesters, dismissing their concerns as "propaganda lies", spread by "a small handful of fringe elements – loud, anarchist and disconnected pensioners, most of whom haven't served in years".

From BBC

A large proportion of Trump supporters, I suspect, had no coherent program in mind and just wanted to f**k s**t up, in the immortal phrase previously used by anarchists.

From Salon

The crowd was not huge, but it was diverse, including supporters of Alexei Navalny alongside anarchists and young men recruiting people to go and fight for Ukraine.

From BBC

Related Words

• agitator 
• anarch 
• revolutionary