capitalist

[kap-i-tl-ist]

noun

1. a person who has capital, especially extensive capital, invested in business enterprises.

2. an advocate of capitalism.

3. a very wealthy person.

capitalist

/ ˈkæpɪtəlɪst /

noun

1. a person who owns capital, esp capital invested in a business

2. politics a supporter of capitalism

3. informal,  a rich person

adjective

1. of or relating to capital, capitalists, or capitalism

Other Word Forms

• anticapitalist noun
• noncapitalist noun
• precapitalist noun
• procapitalist noun
• capitalistic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of capitalist¹

First recorded in 1785–95; capital ¹ + -ist

Example Sentences

Selected by Paul Kedrosky, a venture capitalist and a research fellow at MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Silicon Valley’s startup model encourages “a fake it until you make it” strategy: Pretend to be successful to attract the coders, venture capitalists and customers that bring actual success.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

If she wanted the model to be replicated, he told her, it needed a capitalist backbone.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Man-soo is a constant gardener who uses strong wires to twist roots and branches as he needs; their later use suggests the unnatural shapes into which the capitalist system twists humans.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Like all these other capitalist vultures, OpenAI’s plans wouldn’t just be exploiting lonely men, but would actively be making the problem worse.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• banker 
• entrepreneur 
• financier