environmentalist
Americannoun
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an expert on environmental problems.
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any person who advocates or works to protect the air, water, animals, plants, and other natural resources from pollution or its effects.
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a person who believes that differences between individuals or groups, especially in moral and intellectual attributes, are predominantly determined by environmental factors, as surroundings, upbringing, or experience (opposed to hereditarian).
noun
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an adherent of environmentalism
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a person who is concerned with the maintenance of ecological balance and the conservation of the environment
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a person concerned with issues that affect the environment, such as pollution
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of environmentalist
First recorded in 1915–20; environmental ( def. ) + -ist
Compare meaning
How does environmentalist compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
If you're a true environmentalist, you care deeply enough about the natural world to make protecting it a real priority. You may even have made it your life's work. These days, there's no shortage of work for the world's environmentalists. What with climate change, oil spills, gas drilling, deforestation, and species decline (just to name a few), there's almost no time to breathe. Show me an environmentalist with nothing to do, and I'll show you someone who isn't paying attention. Environmentalists — people who work to protect the environment — often work hand in hand with conservationists, whose job is to protect and maintain as much of the natural world as possible.
Vocabulary lists containing environmentalist
Words with 15 or More Letters, List 1
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"Handle with Care"
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Jane Goodall (1934–2025) Tribute List
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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.
“Why do we need a nine gigawatt data center in one of the driest states in the nation that’s in a severe drought,” Caroline Gleich, an environmentalist and professional skier, asked.
From Salon • Jun. 12, 2026
It was reminiscent for this viewer of 2008’s “Food Inc.,” which took a deep dive into the techniques of farmer Joel Salatin, the self-proclaimed “Christian libertarian environmentalist capitalist lunatic farmer.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 2, 2026
The uprising harked back to the 1980s and 1990s, when iconic environmentalist Judi Bari led Earth First! campaigns against logging in the region.
From Los Angeles Times • May 10, 2026
Prince William has congratulated Sir David Attenborough on reaching a "remarkable milestone", as the broadcaster and environmentalist celebrated his 100th birthday.
From BBC • May 8, 2026
This soundscape, as acoustic environmentalist R. Murray Schafer conceived it, concerns what those sounds tell us about who we are and the time in which we live.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
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.
