capitalist
Americannoun
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capitalists
plural
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a person who has capital, especially extensive capital, invested in business enterprises.
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an advocate of capitalism.
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a very wealthy person.
noun
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a person who owns capital, esp capital invested in a business
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politics a supporter of capitalism
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informal a rich person
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of capitalist
Explanation
Someone who hopes to profit by investing money or financing business ventures is a capitalist. A nation's economy is described as capitalist if it's based on private ownership and profit. The word capitalist appeared in 1791, taken from the French word capitaliste. A capitalist is someone who believes in the economic philosophy of Capitalism, a system of privately-owned, for-profit businesses. A capitalist might believe in free enterprise and the individual’s ability to gain wealth through intelligence and hard work. Capitalist can also be used to describe a self-interested, every-man-for-himself approach to the world.
Vocabulary lists containing capitalist
East Asia - Middle School
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East Asia - High School
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Russia - Middle School and High School
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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:
The billionaire venture capitalist and PayPal co-founder quietly bought the property through a limited liability company at a foreclosure auction in Pomona in July, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the sale.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026
The company has assumed the role of a venture capitalist in the AI value chain, strategically investing in customers and business partners.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026
Ben Rosen, an influential Wall Street analyst and venture capitalist who helped popularize personal computers, died on Aug. 23 at the age of 93.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Sir Anthony's report, co-authored with venture capitalist Tim Bunting, says schools have not been prepared for AI's arrival.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
Her husband had been a wealthy man, a capitalist.
From "Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution" by Ji-li Jiang
To capitalists, the idea of individual children owning stock is positive.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
Google co-founder Sergey Brin, venture capitalists and other tech executives fund that group.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Building on those advances, Seales and a group of venture capitalists, with Italy's permission, launched the Vesuvius Challenge in 2023.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026
With venture capitalists -- and even sovereign wealth funds -- no longer able to play in that league, higher sums can only be found on the public markets.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
Much of it came from poorly paid state functionaries whose livelihoods depended on using police and administrative authority to extract cash from upstart capitalists.
From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden
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.
