proponent

noun

pro·​po·​nent prə-ˈpō-nənt 

ˈprō-ˌpō-

: one who argues in favor of something : advocate

Did you know?

Proponent comes from the same Latin word as propose, so a proponent is someone who proposes something, or at least supports it by speaking and writing in favor of it. Thus, for example, proponents of casinos argue that they create jobs, whereas proponents of a casino ban—that is, casino opponents—argue that they're corrupting and they take money away from people who can't afford it. As a rule, just about anything important that gets proposed also gets opposed.

Synonyms of proponent

• advocate
• supporter
• advocator
• exponent

Examples of proponent in a Sentence

a vocal proponent of the use of electric-powered cars

Recent Examples on the Web

Harari and many proponents of the ethical view of affective sentientism want suffering to be the defining criterion that protects conscious beings from becoming second-class citizens to intelligent machines. — Andréa Morris, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2026

Meta has long been a proponent of open-sourcing its AI models, but has struggled to keep up with rivals such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google that have not taken the same approach. — ABC News, 10 Aug. 2026

And Mike Rogers is well known as one of the biggest proponents of the American military being engaged in foreign conflicts in the United States Senate. — NBC news, 9 Aug. 2026

Despite a 25% decline in gold from its high in January, proponents of the precious metal are storming into bullish call positions after almost two months of sideways action gives way to a rally Friday following weak jobs data. — Oliver Renick, CNBC, 7 Aug. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Latin proponent-, proponens, present participle of proponere

First Known Use

1588, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for proponent

• component
• deponent
• exponent
• opponent
• multicomponent
• ponent

Kids Definition

proponent

noun

pro·​po·​nent prə-ˈpō-nənt 

ˈprō-ˌpō-nənt

: one who argues in favor of something

a proponent of recycling

Legal Definition

proponent

noun

pro·​po·​nent prə-ˈpō-nənt 

1

: one who argues in favor of something

2

: one who offers a will for probate