spiritualist

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /ˈspɪrɪtʃuəlɪst/ UK /ˈspɪrɪtʃuəlɪst/ See IPA manual

noun adj

Meanings

1

noun
a person who believes the dead can communicate with the living

The spiritualist claimed to relay messages from departed relatives.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person who believes the... medium clairvoyant psychic seer

Opposites

materialist

Word family

Derived forms spiritualistic

Related forms spirit spiritual spiritualism

Etymology

From spiritualism (or spiritual) + -ist; spiritual derives from Latin spiritualis, from spiritus ('breath, spirit'), from spirare ('to breathe').

spiritualis Latin spiritus Latin spirare Latin

View etymology graph ->

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People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

# spiritualist

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun, adj
**IPA (US):** ˈspɪrɪtʃuəlɪst
**IPA (UK):** ˈspɪrɪtʃuəlɪst

## Meanings
1. a person who believes the dead can communicate with the living

## Examples
- The spiritualist claimed to relay messages from departed relatives.

## Synonyms
- medium
- clairvoyant
- psychic
- seer

## Antonyms
- materialist

## Derived Forms
- spiritualistic

## Related Forms
- spirit
- spiritual
- spiritualism

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: spiritualis
- Root: spiritus
- Root: spirare

## Etymology
From spiritualism (or spiritual) + -ist; spiritual derives from Latin spiritualis, from spiritus ('breath, spirit'), from spirare ('to breathe').

## AI Etymology
Spiritualist comes from spiritualism (or spiritual) + -ist; spiritual derives from Latin spiritualis, from spiritus ('breath, spirit'), from spirare ('to breathe'). The historical chain includes Latin spiritualis, Latin spiritus, and Latin spirare. Older glosses in the chain include "breath, spirit" and "to breathe", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, spiritualist is best read as compound, suffixal formation, and borrowing, yielding an English noun and adjective shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a noun and adjective, with the sense "a person who believes the dead can communicate with the living". English derivatives include spiritualistic; related forms include spirit, spiritual, and spiritualism. The result is an English noun and adjective whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.

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

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spiritualist

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