philosophe
Americannoun
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philosophes
plural
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any of the popular French intellectuals or social philosophers of the 18th century, as Diderot, Rousseau, or Voltaire.
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a philosophaster.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of philosophe
Borrowed into English from French around 1770–80
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:
It was this understanding that made the French philosophe so eloquent a defender of the rule of law and so severe a critic of direct taxation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
Rousseau was the great contrarian philosophe of the Enlightenment.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2020
The philosophe handed her a feverish memorandum for reform, covering everything from rhubarb cultivation to vocational schooling.
From The New Yorker ● Feb. 25, 2019
Two centuries later the French philosophe Voltaire would mock the empire as “neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire,” but to Charles, his realm was holy indeed.
From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2014
As I approached, I saw that my dear philosophe spake in terms of remonstration to the Serjeant, which officer protested their presence on the ship.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
His 1770s busts of Denis Diderot and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and especially his sculpture of a seated Voltaire, have influenced ever since how the French picture their philosophes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Roland had grown up reading the philosophes and was influenced by Diderot and Rousseau, among others.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026
Some of this literature consisted of the banned works of major philosophes themselves, but much of it was simply pirated and “dumbed-down” versions of things like the Encyclopedia.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2020
Many of the most famous and important philosophes were indeed French, but there were major English, Scottish, and Prussian figures as well.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2020
As Adams explained it, the French philosophes had invented the word, which became a central part of their utopian style of thinking and a major tenet in their school of folly.”
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
