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

With apologies to Ms. Field, this descent has done far more to birth the “furious minds” of the New Right than the speculations of philosophers and intellectuals.

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The plaque that previously labelled the statue read "author, poet, scholar, soldier, jurist, orator, philanthropist and philosopher".

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As early as the 12th and 13th centuries, philosophers such as St. Thomas Aquinas identified reason as the home of God’s image in every person.

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Masli asks what the philosopher Simone Weil thought was the essential question of being a loving neighbor: “What are you going through?”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Eight hundred years ago, the philosopher Maimonides wrote that the supreme purpose of giving is to make charity itself unnecessary.

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Related Words

• theorist