philosophe

[ fil-uh-sof, fil-uh-zof; French fee-law-zawf ]

/ ˈfɪl əˌsɒf, ˌfɪl əˈzɒf; French fi lɔˈzɔf /

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noun, plural phil·o·sophes

[fil-uh-sofs, fil-uh-zofs; French fee-law-zawf]. /ˈfɪl əˌsɒfs, ˌfɪl əˈzɒfs; French fi lɔˈzɔf/.

any of the popular French intellectuals or social philosophers of the 18th century, as Diderot, Rousseau, or Voltaire.

a philosophaster.

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Origin of philosophe

Borrowed into English from French around 1770–80

The first work was dedicated to Voltaire, and was received by the old philosophe with much favour.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3|Various
The book pretended to be an elaboration of Dumarsais' essay on the Philosophe published in the Nouvelles liberts de penser, 1750.
Baron d'Holbach|Max Pearson Cushing
Or un crivain, un pote, un philosophe, un homme des rgions intellectuelles n'a qu'une patrie: sa langue.
Instigations|Ezra Pound
In true Martinism, the significance of the term Philosophe inconnu was of another order.
The Illustrated Key to the Tarot|L. W. de Laurence

Such are the memorable quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns, and the philosophe idea of perfectibility and human progress.
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, June 1899|Various