philosopher

noun

phi·​los·​o·​pher fə-ˈlä-s(ə-)fər 

1

a

: a person who seeks wisdom or enlightenment : scholar, thinker

b

: a student of philosophy

2

a

: a person whose philosophical perspective makes meeting trouble with equanimity easier

b

: an expounder of a theory in a particular area of experience

c

: one who philosophizes

Examples of philosopher in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The sublime—a concept introduced by the first-century philosopher Longinus and later refined by Edmund Burke and Immanuel Kant—rests on an encounter with something too immense or too powerful for the human mind to comprehend fully. —Sebastian Smee, New Yorker, 4 May 2026

The German philosopher Jürgen Habermas, a prolific commentator on world events, didn’t live to comment on the Iran war. —Adam Kirsch, The Atlantic, 3 May 2026

For Jean Paul Van Bendegem, a philosopher of mathematics at the Free University of Brussels, the journey into ultrafinitism began not with numbers, but with elementary school geometry. —Quanta Magazine, 29 Apr. 2026

OpenAI is the Sam Altman show, as became very clear in 2023 when he was briefly deposed as OpenAI’s philosopher-king. —Elizabeth Lopatto, The Verge, 29 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English philosophe, philosophre, from Anglo-French, from Latin philosophus, from Greek philosophos, from phil- + sophia wisdom, from sophos wise

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing philosopher

• philosopher's stone

Kids Definition

philosopher

noun

phi·​los·​o·​pher fə-ˈläs-(ə-)fər 

1

a

: a person who seeks wisdom or enlightenment : scholar, thinker

b

: a student of philosophy

2

: a person who is calm and patient when faced with trouble