fundamentalist

C2+ Topic:Word Formation & Derivatives

US /ˌfʌndəˈmɛntəlɪst/ UK /ˌfʌndəˈmɛntəlɪst/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
one who adheres strictly to basic principles or literal doctrine

The fundamentalist rejected any reinterpretation of the founding texts.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · one who adheres strictly to... literalisttraditionalist puristdogmatisthardlinerorthodox

Opposites

liberalmodernistprogressive moderate

Word family

Derived forms fundamentalismfundamentalistic

Related forms fundamentalfundamentfund

Etymology

From fundamental (from Latin fundamentum, 'foundation', from fundare, 'to found', from fundus, 'bottom') + the suffix -ist.

fundÄmentum Latin fundus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Word Formation & Derivatives General Vocabulary

External links

# fundamentalist

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˌfʌndəˈmɛntəlɪst/
**IPA (UK):** /ˌfʌndəˈmɛntəlɪst/

## Meanings
1. one who adheres strictly to basic principles or literal doctrine

## Examples
- The fundamentalist rejected any reinterpretation of the founding texts.

## Synonyms
- literalist
- traditionalist
- purist
- dogmatist
- hardliner
- orthodox

## Antonyms
- liberal
- modernist
- progressive
- moderate

## Derived Forms
- fundamentalism
- fundamentalistic

## Related Forms
- fundamental
- fundament
- fund

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: fundÄmentum
- Root: fundus

## Etymology
From fundamental (from Latin fundamentum, 'foundation', from fundare, 'to found', from fundus, 'bottom') + the suffix -ist.

## AI Etymology
Fundamentalist comes from fundamental (from Latin fundamentum, 'foundation', from fundare, 'to found', from fundus, 'bottom') + the suffix -ist. Morphologically, the form is compositional, with the named elements combining to produce the modern spelling and sense. In present use, it is used as a noun and adjective meaning "one who adheres strictly to basic principles or literal doctrine", so the historical material remains connected with the current sense rather than standing as bare ancestry. The wider English family includes derivatives such as fundamentalism and fundamentalistic and related forms such as fundamental, fundament, and fund, showing how the same historical material continues to organize neighboring vocabulary. The named historical forms include Latin fundÄmentum and Latin fundus, keeping the history tied to concrete forms rather than a loose resemblance.

## Topics
- Word Formation & Derivatives
- General Vocabulary

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