idealist

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /aɪˈdiəlɪst/ UK /aɪˈdɪəlɪst/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
a person guided by ideals rather than practical considerations

As an idealist, she believed every problem had a just solution.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person guided by ideals... dreamer visionary romanticutopianperfectionist

Opposites

realist pragmatist materialist cynic

Word family

Derived forms idealistic

Related forms ideal idealism idealize idea

Etymology

From ideal + -ist, modeled on French idealiste, ultimately from Ancient Greek idea ('form, pattern').

idea Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

# idealist

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

## Meanings
1. a person guided by ideals rather than practical considerations

## Examples
- As an idealist, she believed every problem had a just solution.

## Synonyms
- dreamer
- visionary
- romantic
- utopian
- perfectionist

## Antonyms
- realist
- pragmatist
- materialist
- cynic

## Derived Forms
- idealistic

## Related Forms
- ideal
- idealism
- idealize
- idea

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: idea

## Etymology
From ideal + -ist, modeled on French idealiste, ultimately from Ancient Greek idea ('form, pattern').

## AI Etymology
idealist comes from ideal + -ist, modeled on French idealiste, ultimately from Ancient Greek idea ('form, pattern'). Morphologically, the ending is part of the etymology: the suffix is attached to the older base named in the history, producing a later English derivative. In present English, the noun sense is "a person guided by ideals rather than practical considerations", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as ideal, idealism, idealize, and idea, and in derivatives such as idealistic. Its semantic neighborhood includes dreamer, visionary, romantic, and utopian, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Ancient Greek idea.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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