Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of a group of British workers who between 1811 and 1816 rioted and destroyed laborsaving textile machinery in the belief that such machinery would diminish employment.
- n. One who opposes technical or technological change.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A member of a conspiracy of workmen in England (1811–1816) banded together for the destruction of improved machines, under the delusion that these diminished employment: said to have called themselves Luddites from an imbecile named Ned Lud, who broke two stocking-frames from anger. The disturbances created by them were called Luddite riots, and required stern measures for their repression.
- Of or pertaining to the Luddites: as, Luddite riots.
Wiktionary
- n. Any of a group of early 19th century English textile workers who destroyed machinery because it would harm their livelihood.
- n. by extension, pejorative Someone who opposes technological change.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One of a number of riotous persons in England, who for six years (1811-17) tried to prevent the use of labor-saving machinery by breaking it, burning factories, etc.; -- so called from Ned Lud, a half-witted man who some years previously had broken stocking frames.
WordNet 3.0
- n. one of the 19th century English workmen who destroyed laborsaving machinery that they thought would cause unemployment
- n. any opponent of technological progress
Etymologies
- After Ned Ludd, a legendary example. See -ite. (Wiktionary)
- After Ned Ludd, an English laborer who was supposed to have destroyed weaving machinery around 1779. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“That living-condition claim was swept aside by commercial interests and officialdom, which hung the label Luddite on protesters not for demanding a living wage but for obstructing the march of technological progress.”
“The novelist Thomas Pynchon wrote in The New York Times in 1984, “The word Luddite continues to be applied with contempt to anyone with doubts about technology, especially the nuclear kind.””
“The term Luddite usually carries connotations of destroying new technology.”
“To put that in Luddite speak: The computer is fast.”
The Washington Post: Supercomputer in China super fast: U.S. computers feel inadequate
“To call someone with such economic views a Luddite is not a personal attack and I am sorry if it comes across as such.”
Free Trade in Tech Labor, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“But trying to explain this stuff to a Luddite is like introducing calculus to a kindergarten class.”
“Can you question technology without being labelled a Luddite?”
“The troubles which occurred in various parts of the country were known as the Luddite Riots, and the secret body which organized them was called King or General”
“David Harsanyi: No, the GOP is not home of modern Luddites Have you noticed that any person who exhibits any skepticism about global warming alarmism will, sooner or later, be called a Luddite?”
“Just go to the index of MacUpdate and see: most of the software released just wouldn't exist for Mac if it weren't for OS X. Nostalgia is one thing: being a Luddite is another.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘Luddite’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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my fab list
blowsabella, aperçu, froideur, salubrious, abject, gallipot, mumchance, wainscot, virago, macerate, lascivious, clandestine and 181 more...
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wallace
Remington, Windsor, prorector, wen, aver, mottle, seltzer, tepee, lapidary, effete, sotto, presbyopia and 355 more...
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cicatrix
scar tissue
minatory, naira, Cluniac, embracive, prolix, hierophant, timorous, adduce, veracious, dysphoric, sang-froid, vitiate and 505 more...
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February 2012
filiopietistic, bifurcate, enclave, wedlock, decadent, unduly, defunct, lapel, tumescent, capitulation, leaden, scintilla and 83 more...
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Wordplay
reticent, slammerkin, moonstruck, zephyr, gallivant, hullabaloo, pandemonium, equestrian, wallflower, martyr, threadbare, treacherous and 180 more...
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amy's GRE 2012
gimmicks, kowtow, unpretentious, skeptical, cynical, somber, prevaricate, equivocate, requisite, embellish, impregnable, procrastinate and 307 more...
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rememberers
prolix, ageusia, animadversion, anodyne, antic, arabesque, beadle, brachymetropia, colophon, desquamation, diaphoresis, diegesis and 3255 more...
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gleaned words
found words, that haven't found their proper place yet.
juggernaut, panopticon, superfluous, verfremdung, aleatory, googlewhack, palimpsest, petrosomatoglyph, epibiont, solipsism, zugzwang, ubiquitous and 500 more...
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gre
couth, beguiling, ballyhoo, calamitous, homily, largesse, detritus, Rube Goldberg, culicide, Luddite, drawl, gentrification and 5 more...
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Nouns
harbinger, onus, analect, poaching, floe, backlash, profligacy, munificence, wellsprings, dissimulation, race baiting, precursor and 34 more...
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Useful
Oh, the curse of being termed merely useful! Truly, I mean to compliment these words, for what is more satisfying than having a word fall into place as the perfect fit? My speech merely calls for t...
sophistry, laconic, idyllic, cadence, indelibly, erudite, loquacious, tautology, iconoclast, Luddite, logophile, obsequious and 7 more...
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Bergen
words related to Morednism, Christianity, Philosophy, Religion, and stuff
cul-de-sac, solipsism, a forbidding book, self-refuting, Luddite, desultory schooling, hort-listed, about-face, a significant cor..., corollary, em dash, exonerate and 24 more...
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Metaphors
Tweets
Looking for tweets for Luddite.

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