environmentalist

noun

en·​vi·​ron·​men·​tal·​ist in-ˌvī-rə(n)-ˈmen-tə-ləst 

-ˌvī(-ə)r(n)-

plural environmentalists

: an advocate of environmentalism : a person who is focused on the preservation, restoration, and improvement of the natural environment

While dams have been touted in the name of water conservation and clean, renewable energy, environmentalists have long challenged the claim that dams are "green" technology. The deleterious ecological impacts of dams, they insist, have been profound.

—Patrick Joseph

Meanwhile, environmentalists have responded that climate change and habitat loss due to development should require builders to think even more carefully about their projects.

—Emma Cotton et al.

Examples of environmentalist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Legislators removed an interim goal for utilities to cut carbon emissions, spurring concern from environmentalists that the state might miss its goal of zero carbon emissions by 2050. —Jessica Hill, Fortune, 9 Apr. 2026

But environmentalists have been advocating for this type of shift for over two decades. —Lori Weisberg, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Apr. 2026

But Piotr Siergiej, another environmentalist from the Polish Smog Alert, said the energy crisis caused by the Iran war should serve as a wake-up call to the Polish government about the urgency of fixing this program. —ABC News, 8 Apr. 2026

The writer and environmentalist had booked the trip to Lake District – the United Kingdom's largest national park and a UNESCO World Heritage. —Kathleen Wong, USA Today, 6 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1903, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for environmentalist

• experimentalist
• fundamentalist
• instrumentalist
• orientalist
• transcendentalist
• gentlest

Kids Definition

environmentalist

noun

en·​vi·​ron·​men·​tal·​ist -ˌvī-rən-ˈment-ᵊl-əst 

-ˌvī(-ə)rn-

: a person concerned about environmental quality and especially with controlling pollution

Medical Definition

environmentalist

noun

en·​vi·​ron·​men·​tal·​ist -ᵊl-əst 

1

: an advocate of environmentalism

2

: one concerned about environmental quality especially of the human environment with respect to the control of pollution