altruist

noun

al·​tru·​ist ˈal-trü-ist How to pronounce altruist (audio)
: one that adheres to or practices altruism: such as
a
: an unselfish person whose actions show concern for the welfare of others
Kim signed up with Compass, a District-based group that serves the growing number of altruists who donate not only time and money to charity and the arts but also their professional expertise.Robert McCartney
b
: an animal that behaves in a way which is not beneficial to or may be harmful to itself but which benefits the survival of others of its species
Reciprocal altruism refers to the exchange of beneficial acts between individuals, in which the benefits to the recipient exceed the cost to the altruist. … Although the potential for reciprocal altruism exists in many animal societies, most interactions occur between closely related individuals …Robert M. Seyfarth et al.

Examples of altruist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Effective altruists, by contrast, tended to jump at such opportunities — after all, 10 percent better conditions for animals, while hardly perfect, is still better. Kelsey Piper, Vox, 9 Aug. 2024 Some of the effective altruists will classify all of the effective accelerationists as extreme libertarians. Caroline Mimbs Nyce, The Atlantic, 21 Aug. 2024 Effective altruists were also making a splash in other areas, like global health and development or biosecurity or AI, but those were all areas where a lot of money was already being spent from many sources. Kelsey Piper, Vox, 9 Aug. 2024 Effective altruists were some of the earliest people to take seriously the study of catastrophic risks from AI, and many in the AI safety community—though not all—subscribe to the philosophy to varying degrees. Billy Perrigo/san Francisco, TIME, 30 May 2024 See all Example Sentences for altruist 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'altruist.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1868, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of altruist was in 1868

Dictionary Entries Near altruist

Cite this Entry

“Altruist.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/altruist. Accessed 12 Oct. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on altruist

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!