philosopher

[fi-los-uh-fer]

noun

1. a person who offers views or theories on profound questions in ethics, metaphysics, logic, and other related fields.

2. a person who is deeply versed in philosophy.

3. a person who establishes the central ideas of some movement, cult, etc.

4. a person who regulates their life, actions, judgments, utterances, etc., by the light of philosophy or reason.

5. a person who is rationally or sensibly calm, especially under trying circumstances.

6. Obsolete.,  an alchemist or occult scientist.

philosopher

/ fɪˈlɒsəfə /

noun

1. a student, teacher, or devotee of philosophy

2. a person of philosophical temperament, esp one who is patient, wise, and stoical

3. (formerly) an alchemist or devotee of occult science

4. a person who establishes the ideology of a cult or movement

   the philosopher of the revolution

philosopher

1. Someone who engages in philosophy. Some examples of philosophers are Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, and Plato.

Other Word Forms

• philosophership noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of philosopher¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English, variant of philosophre from Anglo-French ( Middle French philosophe, from Latin philosophus ); replacing Old English philosoph, from Latin philosophus, from Greek philósophos “philosopher,” equivalent to philo- philo- + soph(ía) “wisdom” ( -sophy ) + -os noun suffix

Example Sentences

Millennia before the Clocky alarm or smartphone screen timers, philosophers grappled with the same question: How can we live with intention and follow through?

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Whether it would be more fruitful to practice being at peace during times of war is a question for philosophers to take up.

Read more on Literature

Why comparisons to insects, animals, and even vegetables are so often used to discuss matters that have only to do with humans is a question that philosophers have yet to answer.

Read more on Literature

The bottle is the trap philosophers inadvertently create for themselves by abstracting concepts such as “knowledge,” “being” and “object” from their ordinary usage and analyzing them as though each has some kind of independent essence.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Sometimes the clues are more cute than scary, such as the references to Heraclitus, the ancient Greek philosopher who asserted the illusory nature of reality.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• theorist