noun
Etymology
Origin of theorist
Explanation
Someone who considers given facts and comes up with a possible explanation is called a theorist. Theorists observe various phenomena and use reasoning to come up with practical ideas that must be proven. Theorists come up with abstract ideas and then spend their lives trying to prove them. Perhaps the most famous theorist was Albert Einstein, whose theory of relativity is arguably the most famous ever presented. Still, an idea can always be disputed until proven, and theorists are often scoffed at. Einstein himself once said, "No one but a theorist believes his theory; everyone puts faith in a laboratory result but the experimenter himself."
Vocabulary lists containing theorist
Selection Vocabulary 3, Unit 1
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -ist
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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.
Theorist Josefine Proll of the Eindhoven University of Technology is equally enthusiastic: “All of a sudden, stellarators are back in the game.”
From Science Magazine • Sep. 6, 2022
Theorist Freeman Dyson devised a way to find even the quietest technological cultures, which he surmised could be detected by looking for gigantic energy-harvesting structures they might build around their home stars.
From Scientific American • Sep. 6, 2022
I've used their story in two of my books, Peddling Prosperity and The Accidental Theorist, but it bears retelling, this time with an Asian twist.
From Slate • Dec. 19, 2017
Theorist Jay Gambetta at IBM agrees that for such reasons, quantum supremacy might not mean very much.
From Nature • Nov. 12, 2017
The Revisers have in fact been the dupes of an ingenious Theorist, concerning whose extraordinary views you are invited to read what Dr. Scrivener has recently put forth.
From The Revision Revised by Burgon, John William
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.
