cap·i·tal·ist
ˈka-pə-tə-list 
ˈkap-tə-
1
: a person who has capital especially invested in business
industrial capitalists
2
: a person who favors capitalism
variants
or capitalistic
ˌka-pə-tə-ˈli-stik
ˌkap-tə-
1
: owning capital
the capitalist class
2
a
: practicing or advocating capitalism
capitalist nations
b
: marked by capitalism
capitalist period of history
Synonyms
Examples of capitalist in a Sentence
Noun
capitalists who lost everything in the '29 Crash
Recent Examples on the Web
Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 4 Apr. 2024
Sam Altman’s company, established merely eight years ago as a competitor to Google’s DeepMind, likely remains loss-making, and savvy venture capitalists and private equity investors reportedly valued it last month at a little over $80 billion during its most recent round of fundraising.
—Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune Asia, 28 Mar. 2024
Huffman’s fellow co-founder, venture capitalist Alexis Ohanian, isn’t listed among the investors with stakes of 5% or more and isn’t named elsewhere in the filings.
—Ryan Gould, Fortune, 20 Mar. 2024
There, a venture capitalist named Jason Palmer garnered 51 votes — more than Biden’s 40 votes, and enough to propel him to victory.
—Elizabeth Robinson, NBC News, 6 Mar. 2024
Money poured in to drug companies by the billions — from venture capitalists, the stock market, the National Institutes of Health.
—Catherine Carlock — Boston Globe, STAT, 16 Mar. 2024
Today, start-ups and venture capitalists shop around for the best bank, instead of automatically going to SVB, Nivard said.
—Gerrit De Vynck, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024
An Industrywide Shift: Silicon Valley venture capitalists once saw China as the next frontier for innovation and investment returns.
—Mike Isaac, New York Times, 7 Mar. 2024
Gheorghe’s journey to becoming a software engineer, venture capitalist and transformer of the fashion business began in Romania under a repressive totalitarian regime.
—Bruce Rogers, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024
Abe Beame, Rolling Stone, 7 Apr. 2024
Fueled by huge technological advances in recent years and gobs of venture capitalist money, AI has become one of the hottest corporate buzzwords.
—Kevin Schaul, Washington Post, 2 Apr. 2024
Now, tenants include Spotify, the accounting firm PwC and the venture capitalist Founders Fund.
—Isabella Kwai, New York Times, 31 Mar. 2024
Unsurprisingly, the statistical evidence found in these articles strongly supports the conventional view that the more capitalist nations grow faster, invest more, and achieve higher levels of income.
—Robert Lawson, Orange County Register, 5 Feb. 2024
And so the tale of how the Giants established themselves at the Polo Grounds is told, accurately enough, as a piece of complicated capitalist skulduggery in which the team’s desperate owner bought a controlling interest in the Baltimore Orioles and then dragged its stars north.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024
What is Beyoncé going to do to stop a capitalist structure?
—Kyle Denis, Billboard, 25 Mar. 2024
Their audacious gambit was launched in response to the gentrification taking place around them, a humorous protest against the capitalist forces that threatened to push the city’s artistic community to its outer edges.
—Brent Lang, Variety, 7 Mar. 2024
The two best friends conspire to scam Bruce Marcus, one of Silicon Valley’s most famous venture capitalist billionaires, played by actor and comedian Marc Evan Jackson, out of millions of dollars.
—Taylor Lorenz, Washington Post, 12 Mar. 2024
Noun
After giving birth to her second daughter with husband Alexis Ohanian last August, the 42-year-old athlete has had time to contemplate her next move off the court, and has kept busy as a venture capitalist, investing in new companies.
—Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 4 Apr. 2024
Sam Altman’s company, established merely eight years ago as a competitor to Google’s DeepMind, likely remains loss-making, and savvy venture capitalists and private equity investors reportedly valued it last month at a little over $80 billion during its most recent round of fundraising.
—Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune Asia, 28 Mar. 2024
Huffman’s fellow co-founder, venture capitalist Alexis Ohanian, isn’t listed among the investors with stakes of 5% or more and isn’t named elsewhere in the filings.
—Ryan Gould, Fortune, 20 Mar. 2024
There, a venture capitalist named Jason Palmer garnered 51 votes — more than Biden’s 40 votes, and enough to propel him to victory.
—Elizabeth Robinson, NBC News, 6 Mar. 2024
Money poured in to drug companies by the billions — from venture capitalists, the stock market, the National Institutes of Health.
—Catherine Carlock — Boston Globe, STAT, 16 Mar. 2024
Today, start-ups and venture capitalists shop around for the best bank, instead of automatically going to SVB, Nivard said.
—Gerrit De Vynck, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024
An Industrywide Shift: Silicon Valley venture capitalists once saw China as the next frontier for innovation and investment returns.
—Mike Isaac, New York Times, 7 Mar. 2024
Gheorghe’s journey to becoming a software engineer, venture capitalist and transformer of the fashion business began in Romania under a repressive totalitarian regime.
—Bruce Rogers, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024
Adjective
Carter himself is in on this action, as an investor in the salad chain Sweetgreen, trading the era of black tie and tails, of steak, lobster, and bottle service, spending stupid money with your glamorous friends in public, to a capitalist endgame of accumulating interest by the açai bowl.
—Abe Beame, Rolling Stone, 7 Apr. 2024
Fueled by huge technological advances in recent years and gobs of venture capitalist money, AI has become one of the hottest corporate buzzwords.
—Kevin Schaul, Washington Post, 2 Apr. 2024
Now, tenants include Spotify, the accounting firm PwC and the venture capitalist Founders Fund.
—Isabella Kwai, New York Times, 31 Mar. 2024
Unsurprisingly, the statistical evidence found in these articles strongly supports the conventional view that the more capitalist nations grow faster, invest more, and achieve higher levels of income.
—Robert Lawson, Orange County Register, 5 Feb. 2024
And so the tale of how the Giants established themselves at the Polo Grounds is told, accurately enough, as a piece of complicated capitalist skulduggery in which the team’s desperate owner bought a controlling interest in the Baltimore Orioles and then dragged its stars north.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024
What is Beyoncé going to do to stop a capitalist structure?
—Kyle Denis, Billboard, 25 Mar. 2024
Their audacious gambit was launched in response to the gentrification taking place around them, a humorous protest against the capitalist forces that threatened to push the city’s artistic community to its outer edges.
—Brent Lang, Variety, 7 Mar. 2024
The two best friends conspire to scam Bruce Marcus, one of Silicon Valley’s most famous venture capitalist billionaires, played by actor and comedian Marc Evan Jackson, out of millions of dollars.
—Taylor Lorenz, Washington Post, 12 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'capitalist.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun
probably borrowed from French capitaliste "person possessing capital," from capital capital entry 2 + -iste -ist entry 1
Adjective
Phrases Containing capitalist
Dictionary Entries Near capitalist
Cite this Entry
“Capitalist.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/capitalist. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
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Kids Definition
capitalist
noun
cap·i·tal·ist
ˈkap-ət-ᵊl-əst,
ˈkap-tᵊl-
1
: a person who has capital and especially business capital
2
: a person who supports capitalism
More from Merriam-Webster on capitalist
Nglish: Translation of capitalist for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of capitalist for Arabic Speakers
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