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

Specifics vary, but the four group types — unions, environmentalists, personal injury attorneys and consumer activists — propose legislative measures, regulations or ballot measures that would impose new costs, mandates or regulations on business. —Dan Walters, Mercury News, 10 Mar. 2026

But by January, draft copies of the order obtained in a records request by WLRN indicate recommendations from environmentalists have yet to be incorporated. —Jenny Staletovich, Miami Herald, 10 Mar. 2026

The dollar amount was chosen arbitrarily based on what voters might accept, and some cynics saw it as a move by a pro-development commission to cozy up to environmentalists. —Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 9 Mar. 2026

Directed by Daniel Chong, the movie is about a 19-year-old environmentalist who infiltrates the animal world in the body of a beaver. —Lindsey Bahr, Fortune, 9 Mar. 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