Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A student of or specialist in philosophy.
- n. A person who lives and thinks according to a particular philosophy.
- n. A person who is calm and rational under any circumstances.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One who is devoted to the search for fundamental truth; in a restricted sense, one who is versed in or studies the metaphysical and moral sciences; a metaphysician. The application of the term to one versed in natural science or natural philosophy has become less common since the studies of physicists have been more specialized than formerly.
- n. One who conforms his life to the principles of philosophy, especially to those of the Stoical school; one who lives according to reason or the rules of practical wisdom.
- n. An alchemist: so called with reference to the search for the philosopher's stone.
- n. One who deals in any magic art.
Wiktionary
- n. A person devoted to studying and producing results in philosophy.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One who philosophizes; one versed in, or devoted to, philosophy.
- n. One who reduces the principles of philosophy to practice in the conduct of life; one who lives according to the rules of practical wisdom; one who meets or regards all vicissitudes with calmness.
- n. obsolete An alchemist.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a specialist in philosophy
- n. a wise person who is calm and rational; someone who lives a life of reason with equanimity
Etymologies
- From Anglo-Norman or Middle French philosophe, from Latin philosophus, from Ancient Greek φίλος (philos, "beloved, loving") + σοφός (sophos, "wise"), from σοφία (sophia, "wisdom") + -er. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English philosophre, from alteration of Old French philosophe, from Latin philosophus, from Greek philosophos, lover of wisdom, philosopher : philo-, philo- + sophiā, knowledge, learning. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“As to the term philosopher's stone, he alleged that it was a mere figure, to deceive the vulgar.”
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 12, No. 342, November 22, 1828
“We have loitered long with Yehuda Halevi, and still not long enough, for we have not yet spoken of his claims to the title philosopher, won for him by his book _Al-Chazari_.”
“But I do believe that he will be the personification of what I call the philosopher king.”
“If they are, they possess a virtue which produces, in some measure at all events, all those effects which the alchemist usually ascribes to what he calls the philosopher's stone; and if their content does not bring riches, it banishes the desire for them.”
“And this is what they call a philosopher in France!”
“But despite its runaway success in Great Britain, the U.S. publisher changed it to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" because they believed that no American child would buy a book containing the word philosopher.”
“This virtue does indeed produce, in some measure, all those effects which the alchymist usually ascribes to what he calls the philosopher's stone; and if it does not bring riches, it does the same thing, by banishing the desire of them.”
The Young Gentleman and Lady's Monitor, and English Teacher's Assistant
“But unlike Karl Barth or Paul Tillich, for example, who saw themselves as fusing philosophy and theology, Rosenstock-Huessy refused to see himself primarily as a philosopher or theologian ” though when the term philosopher was qualified by the preceding ˜social™, he was more willing to accept that designation. [”
“I sometimes wish that I were: Socrates described himself as shameless, and argued that any true philosopher is by definition shameless, because the true philosopher loves wisdom/truth above all else, and certainly above any concern for social approval.”
“The first-time candidate and small-government philosopher is practically tea party royalty since his father is libertarian hero Ron Paul, the Texas congressman.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘philosopher’.
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PHIL - vocabulary of thinking
philosophy, Socratic, dialogue, philosopher, Athenian, philosophical, politic, Greek, method, death, ancient, believe and 243 more...
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EN - academic vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3119 more...
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Words related to knowledge
Words that relate to learning, knowing, being enlightened...
revelation, eureka, awakening, idea, sapient, astute, canny, intelligent, wise, sharp, shrewd, informed and 467 more...
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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 11184 more...
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EN - eloquence in public speaking
Key words from "The Training of a Public Speaker" by Grenville Kleiser (New York and London, 1920)
beget, imago, approbation, orator, peroration, Cicero, eloquence, elocution, rhetoric, premeditate, plead, Isocrates and 264 more...
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work
director, president, chief, boss, consultant, adviser, assistant, advisor, specialist, manager, employee, counselor and 65 more...
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Arcadia, a play by Tom Stoppard
theodolite, Arcadia, carnal embrace, QED, sin of Onan, Fermat's last the..., landskip, bootboy, yesterday's upsta..., whole numbers, rice pudding, cabbages and 86 more...
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identifiers
species, sex, age bracket, occupation, hobby .. etc.
man, woman, human being, student, zombie, artist, octopus, race driver, scientist, algorithmist, mathematician, child and 59 more...
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dandy's list
favourite words
cattywampus, wibble, fenagle, whisker, sneeze, wisteria, honeysuckle, clove, perihelion, glimmer, twilight, dusk and 264 more...
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je les adore!
fusillade, foal, celestial, abattoir, byzantium, berlin, casablanca, babylon, balkans, albion, avalon, between the devil... and 471 more...
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philo-, phil-, -phile
denoting a liking for a specific thing
philosopher, philanthrope, philanthropist, bibliophile, philology, philosophy
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junestag's Words
postmodernism, cat, fish, rabbit, dell, coffee, elearning, mazda, php, mysql, flash, blogger and 755 more...
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I like : P
palladium, pallida mors, pantheon, parabola, parapraxis, pasqueflower, pawpaw, pear, pentacle, pentagram, penumbra, perhaps and 37 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for philosopher.
vanishedone The winner was 'a fog of philosophers'. Mar 25, 2008
vanishedone A discussion at the Garden of Forking Paths has provided numerous suggested collective nouns for a group of philosophers. Mar 9, 2008