environmentalist

noun en·vi·ron·men·tal·ist \ in-ˌvī-rə(n)-ˈmen-tə-ləst , -ˌvī(-ə)r(n)- \

|Updated on: 17 Jun 2018

Definition of environmentalist

1 : an advocate of environmentalism

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

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Recent Examples of environmentalist from the Web

Some scientists and environmentalists are not so sure.

— james rainey /, NBC News, "A young Dutch inventor wants to clean plastic from the ocean. Can he do it?," 13 June 2018
Branch runs down the factors that make life increasingly hard for mid-sized ranchers—drought, corporate competitors, environmentalists.

— craig fehrman, Outside Online, "Star Journalists Explore Rural America," 12 June 2018
This past Earth Day, plastic was the major cry around which environmentalists rallied, and National Geographic recently launched our own campaign called 'Planet or Plastic?'.

— National Geographic, "New Game Asks Players to Clean the Ocean of Plastic," 8 June 2018
And environmentalists warn that dredging projects that steal sand from offshore can do irreparable harm to coral reefs and sea life.

— susannah bryan, Sun-Sentinel.com, "Shrinking beaches pose a dilemma in South Florida," 8 June 2018
Proponents acknowledged all the criticism, but countered that these weren’t good enough reasons for environmentalists to thwart an ambitious effort to tackle climate change.

— kate yoder, WIRED, "Can This State Finally Put a Price on Carbon?," 7 June 2018
Officials in 2015 opted not to list the chicken-sized, ground-dwelling bird as needing federal protections under the Endangered Species Act and instead imposed land-use restrictions leading to multiple lawsuits from industry and environmentalists.

— keith ridler, idahostatesman, "Breeding ground 'hubs' help keep sage grouse healthy. In Idaho, 1 sits near CJ Strike," 6 June 2018
But as sea rise projections grow grimmer, environmentalists worry the fixes won't come soon enough.

— jenny staletovich, miamiherald, "FPL wants to keep old reactors running. New sea-rise studies could stand in the way," 1 June 2018
But environmentalists are cautioning residents against panic.

— alex stuckey, Houston Chronicle, "Restart of operations at Freeport's Dow Chemical Plant to release carcinogens," 1 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'environmentalist.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of environmentalist

1902

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

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