Luddite

[luhd-ahyt]

noun

1. a member of any of various bands of workers in England (1811–16) organized to destroy manufacturing machinery, under the belief that its use diminished employment.

2. someone who is opposed or resistant to new technologies or technological change.

Luddite

/ ˈlʌdaɪt /

noun

1. any of the textile workers opposed to mechanization who rioted and organized machine-breaking between 1811 and 1816

2. any opponent of industrial change or innovation

adjective

1. of or relating to the Luddites

Other Word Forms

• Luddism noun
• Ludditism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of Luddite¹

First recorded in 1805–15; supposedly after Ned Ludd, 18th-century Leicestershire worker who in a fit of rage destroyed mechanical knitting machines; -ite ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of Luddite¹

C19: alleged to be named after Ned Ludd, an 18th-century Leicestershire workman, who destroyed industrial machinery

Example Sentences

The Luddite Club, a nonprofit group that supports taking smartphone breaks, has 26 chapters, nearly all of them at high schools or colleges.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

In fact, I — a virtual Luddite — was able, over the course of three years of research, to imagine a reasonable plan that could take down a good chunk of the world’s internet.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Charles is at once a Renaissance man and a Luddite.

Read more on Salon

But before this renaissance, he predicted a “Luddite movement” against new technology that would destroy millions of jobs and monopolise the global economy.

Read more on BBC

In other words, he’s the opposite of a Luddite.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• neophobe www.thesaurus.com
• technophobe