individualist

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English individual

Proto-Indo-European *-id-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti

Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō

Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)

Proto-Hellenic *-tās

Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs)

Ancient Greek -ῐστής (-ĭstḗs)bor.

Latin -istader.

Old French -istebor.

Middle English -ist

English -ist

English individualist

From individual + -ist.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

individualist (plural individualists)

1. Someone who believes in individualism as a sociopolitical system.
2. Someone who believes in the philosophy of individualism; a solipsist.
3. Someone who does as they wish, unconstrained by external influences.
   • 1945 January and February, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—III”, in Railway Magazine, page 14:

     However, apart from all this, the Chief was a grand old man, belonging to a class of individualists which seems to be dying out in these days, when standard behaviour seems to be as prevalent as standard designs.

   • 2006, Janis Mink, Joan Miró, →ISBN, page 18:

     Miró was too much of an individualist to simply subscribe to an aesthetic party platform of Mediterranean art, which wanted to move forward, but only at a safe trot.

Synonyms

• (someone who does as they wish): free spirit, heteroclite, nonconformist; see also Thesaurus:maverick

Related terms

• anarcho-individualist
• individualist anarchism
• individualist anarchist
• individualistic

Translations

someone who believes in individualism as sociopolitical system

• Catalan: individualista (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 個人主義者 / 个人主义者 (gèrén zhǔyì zhě)

• Czech: individualista m
• Dutch: individualist (nl) m
• French: individualiste (fr) m or f
• Galician: individualista m or f
• German: Individualist (de) m, Individualistin (de) f
• Italian: individualista (it) m or f
• Malay: individualis
• Polish: indywidualista (pl) m
• Portuguese: individualista m or f
• Russian: индивидуалист (ru) m (individualist)
• Spanish: individualista (es) m or f

someone who does as they wish

• Catalan: individualista (ca) m or f
• Dutch: individualist (nl)
• Galician: individualista m or f
• German: Individualist (de) m, Individualistin (de) f
• Malay: individualis
• Spanish: individualista (es) m or f

Dutch

Etymology

Equivalent to individueel +‎ -ist.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: in‧di‧vi‧du‧a‧list

Noun

individualist m (plural individualisten, diminutive individualistje n)

1. an individualist

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French individualiste. By surface analysis, individual +‎ -ist.

Adjective

individualist m or n (feminine singular individualistă, masculine plural individualiști, feminine/neuter plural individualiste)

1. individualistic

Declension

Declension of individualist

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	individualist		individualistă	individualiști	individualiste
	definite	individualistul		individualista	individualiștii	individualistele
genitive- dative	indefinite	individualist		individualiste	individualiști	individualiste
	definite	individualistului		individualistei	individualiștilor	individualistelor

Swedish

Etymology

By surface analysis, individuell +‎ -ist.

Noun

individualist c

1. individualist

Declension

Declension of individualist

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	individualist	individualists
	definite	individualisten	individualistens
plural	indefinite	individualister	individualisters
	definite	individualisterna	individualisternas

Related terms

• individualism
• individualistisk

Further reading

• “individualist”, in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker [Dictionaries of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)