strategist
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of strategist
First recorded in 1830–40; strateg(y) + -ist
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How does strategist compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
That guy who's really good at making a detailed plan for winning at Monopoly? He's a strategist, or an expert at strategy, or planning. The noun strategist is most commonly used to talk about military people who plan wars, but it's useful whenever you mention someone who is particularly good at making a plan in any kind of complex situation. A coach acts as a strategist when she makes a plan to help her team win the game. A busy mom could also be called a strategist when she has a system for getting a bunch of kids fed, clothed, and out the door to school on time.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Some in the country’s finance circles described him as the field’s version of Zhuge Liang, the third-century strategist whose reputation for uncanny foresight has endured in Chinese lore for centuries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
“The flare-up of military confrontation between the U.S. and Iran risks pulling AUD/USD down to support at 0.6847,” the economist and currency strategist says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
“Oil and Iran do matter,” said Rob Almeida, global investment strategist for MFS Investment Management — but they matter in terms of their potential to implement an inflationary supply shock, he noted.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 12, 2026
“The circumstances are different between the two states,” said David Farmer, a Maine-based Democratic strategist, “but it’s certainly shaping up to be a strange midterm election with enormous stakes for the country.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026
A well-seasoned strategist waits for the right opportunity.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
“The AI agent can be set up with a process to be empowered to make decisions under uncertainty, producing outperformance vs a reasonable benchmark,” the strategists say.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
This has eased inflation fears, the strategists say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
While the 20-year yield is somewhat cheap relative to fair value implied by interest rate risk supply-demand conditions, investor demand will be in focus amid lingering headline risk, strategists at Barclays Securities Japan said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
The strategists say investors are likely to get less diversification by putting money in bonds, with those prices falling as yields rise, driving stocks down.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026
They observe that, “surprisingly, strategists on both the left and right, despite their differences, converge on the individual as the unit of power.”
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
