declinist

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English

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Etymology

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From decline +‎ -ist.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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declinist (plural declinists)

  1. A subscriber to declinism.
    Hypernym: pessimist
    • 2022 June 12, David Edgerton, “Yes, we’re in a bad way. But to wallow in myths of British ‘declinism’ won’t help us thrive”, in The Guardian[1]:
      Rather than accept this, declinists often explained things that did not happen, with explanations that did not work, based on bad history. Thus declinists insist that British R&D has always been low, the City always over-mighty, the country always in the grip of empire, the state under the imaginative control of classicists and historians rather than technocrats, that industry never stood a chance.

Adjective

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declinist (comparative more declinist, superlative most declinist)

  1. Believing in or tending towards declinism.
    • 2013, Simon Winder, Danubia, Picador, published 2014, page 301:
      Against a background of almost paralytic gloom and declinist talk, Vienna tried to take on Napoleon, breifly bhecked him at Aspern-Essling and then went down to absolute defeat at Wagram [] .
    • 2016 November 14, Tom Engelhardt, “Through the gates of hell: Trump as America's first declinist president”, in The Guardian[2]:
      As our first declinist candidate for president, Donald J Trump did at least express something new and true about the nature of our country.