anarchist

American  

[an-er-kist] / ˈæn ər kɪst /

noun

1. a person who advocates or believes in anarchy or anarchism.

2. a person who seeks to overturn by violence all constituted forms and institutions of society and government, with no purpose of establishing any other system of order in the place of that destroyed.

3. a person who promotes disorder or excites revolt against any established rule, law, or custom.

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anarchist British  

/ ˈænəkɪst /

noun

1. a person who advocates the abolition of government and a social system based on voluntary cooperation

2. a person who causes disorder or upheaval

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Other Word Forms

• anarchistic adjective
• nonanarchistic adjective
• pseudoanarchistic adjective
• semianarchist noun
• semianarchistic adjective
• unanarchistic adjective

Etymology

Origin of anarchist

First recorded in 1670–80; anarch(y) + -ist

Example Sentences

Naturally, a lot of it was focused on immigrants, hundreds of whom were deported under suspicion of being anarchists.

From Salon

A climax was reached in San Francisco in November 1917, at what was dubbed the “Hindu-German Conspiracy Trial,” in which Indian and German nationals were prosecuted for plotting and abetting anarchist violence.

From The Wall Street Journal

Gen. Avi Bluth, who heads the Israeli military command that oversees the West Bank, said the attacks by what he called “anarchist fringe youth” were unacceptable and extremely serious.

From The Wall Street Journal

However, in context, it is clear that Alter is criticizing a strain of anarchist activism in the United States.

From Salon

According to Mark Bray, a professor of history at Rutgers University, the term was picked up across Europe in the 1980s and ’90s and adopted by a broad swath of leftists, anarchists and anti-authoritarian socialists.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• agitator
• anarch
• revolutionary