reformer

[ ri-fawr-mer ]

/ rɪˈfɔr mər /

noun

a person devoted to bringing about reform, as in politics or society.

(initial capital letter) any of the leaders of the Reformation.

Words nearby reformer

reformation, reformatory, reformed, reformed church in america, reformed spelling, reformer, reforming, reformism, reformist, reformulate, refract

Origin of reformer

First recorded in 1520–30; reform + -er¹

OTHER WORDS FROM reformer

an·ti·re·form·er, nouncoun·ter·re·form·er, noun

Definition for reformers (2 of 2)

re-form

[ ree-fawrm ]

/ riˈfɔrm /

verb (used with or without object)

to form again.

Origin of re-form

1300–50; Middle English; orig. identical with reform

OTHER WORDS FROM re-form

re-for·ma·tion, nounre-form·er, noun

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH re-form

re-form reform

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for reformers

Reformers understood that constructive societal evolution was the antidote to socialist revolution.
From The Square Deal to The New Deal: The Overlapping Political Identities of TR and FDR|John Avlon|September 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And even though the establishment has won a series of contests, the ranks of the reformers are slowly swelling.
Will Mitch McConnell Face a Senate Coup?|David Freedlander|June 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
For reformers like Senator Gillibrand, though, the problem is deeper that and can only be solved by a fundamental shift in policy.
Caught Between Military and Civilian Justice, a Battered Wife Waits and Waits for Help|Jacob Siegel|April 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
As bad as the assaults themselves are, they are only part of the problem targeted by reformers.
Spies, Lies, and Rape in the Air Force: An Undercover Agent's Story|Jacob Siegel|March 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Those people are virtually by definition liberals and reformers and radicals.
Conservatives on the Wrong Side of History on Mandela, Most Other Things|Michael Tomasky|December 10, 2013|DAILY BEAST
He belonged to that large and pestiferous tribe of reformers, who go through the world without fixed principles.
Gabriel Tolliver|Joel Chandler Harris
He has joined himself with a band of starved teachers and reformers to cut its very foundations away.
A Handbook to the Works of Browning (6th ed.)|Mrs. Sutherland Orr
The cross was destroyed by the fanatical zeal of the Reformers.
The Strand District|Sir Walter Besant
We had quite a magnetic circle of reformers, too, in central New York.
Eighty Years And More; Reminiscences 1815-1897|Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Knox and the other reformers were Scopæ viarum—that is, highway besoms.
Anima Poet|Samuel Taylor Coleridge

British Dictionary definitions for reformers

re-form

/ (riːˈfɔːm) /

verb

to form anew

Derived forms of re-form

re-formation, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012