capitalist
Americannoun
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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:
Reddick loads her genre-blurring tale with outlandish intrigue involving Soviet spies, a capitalist cult and a roving choir that doubles as a Greek chorus.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
Migrants to the North were first viewed with envy as they brought cash, clothes and home appliances from the country's capitalist neighbour to the south.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
You could call that ruthless economic warfare, or you could call it capitalist competition, an arena where the Chinese have excelled.
From Salon ● Jun. 21, 2026
Former PayPal CFO and venture capitalist Roelof Botha is joining SpaceX’s board and will serve on its audit committee.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
He did not know what a capitalist was.
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
He’ll also join the audit committee alongside board members and venture capitalists Randy Glein and Steve Jurvetson.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 17, 2026
Venture capitalists have been wading into the accounting industry following a wave of private-equity investment in accounting firms, which are looking to strengthen stable revenue streams through automation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
Another example is the chain that used to be known as Blank Street Coffee, founded in New York and developed by former venture capitalists.
From BBC ● May 28, 2026
But venture capitalists and institutional investors certainly have.
From Barron's ● May 21, 2026
This new regime—free money for capitalists, free markets for everyone else—plus the more or less instant rewriting of financial history vexed all sorts of people, but few were as enthusiastically vexed as Steve Eisman.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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.
