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saboteur

[sab-uh-tur]
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noun
  1. a person who commits or practices sabotage.
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Origin of saboteur

1920–25; < French, equivalent to sabot(er) to botch (see sabotage) + -eur -eur
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

murdererspyterroristcompetitorrivalguerrillaagentdetractorbanditfoevillaintraitorrebeloppositioninvadercriminaladversaryantagonistopponentprosecutor

Examples from the Web for saboteur

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Then it can be guessed what this saboteur will think and do.

    Space Platform

    Murray Leinster

  • Strangely enough, Richter bothered him more than the saboteur.

  • If there's a saboteur aboard—and I think there is—then the whole operation's in jeopardy.

  • The presence of a saboteur on the Aztec represented a bungle in his department.

  • In the first hours of the new morning Gotch named the saboteur.

British Dictionary definitions for saboteur

saboteur

noun
  1. a person who commits sabotage
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Word Origin

C20: from French; see sabotage
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

Word Origin and History for saboteur

n.

1912 (from 1909 as a French word in English), a borrowing of the French agent noun from sabotage (see sabotage (n.)).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper