philosopher

noun

phi·los·o·pher fə-ˈlä-s(ə-)fər

Synonyms of philosopher next

: a person who seeks wisdom or enlightenment : scholar, thinker

: a student of philosophy

: a person whose philosophical perspective makes meeting trouble with equanimity easier

: an expounder of a theory in a particular area of experience

: one who philosophizes

Examples of philosopher in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web In this sense, Buffett’s music exemplifies what the 19th-century pessimistic philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer thought of as the ultimate power of art. —

Drew M. Dalton, Fortune, 10 Sep. 2023 The event came to a head with the resolution of a 25-year-old wager between philosopher of mind David Chalmers of New York University and me. —

Christof Koch, Scientific American, 8 Sep. 2023 Writers and philosophers have noted the difficulties of revisiting the past. —

Alissa Simon, Variety, 7 Sep. 2023 Preciado, a Spanish philosopher and theorist, clearly has good taste in formal influences: Jean-Luc Godard, the multi-layered investigations of Agnès Varda and Chris Marker. —

Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, 6 Sep. 2023 The ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes went about with a lantern in search of an honest man. —

Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 28 Sep. 2023 Ottoline, meanwhile, was engaged in a long-term affair with the philosopher Bertrand Russell. —

Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2023 The Cleveland museum’s ancient Roman bronze, believed to represent the philosopher and emperor Marcus Aurelius, was taken off view sometime in the spring and is being held by the museum pending shipment to New York. —

Steven Litt, cleveland, 15 Sep. 2023 Now his work strikes me as a closer companion to the pessimistic conclusions of the 19th-century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer than to the hedonism of leisure culture. —

Drew M. Dalton, Fortune, 10 Sep. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'philosopher.' 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

Middle English philosophe, philosophre, from Anglo-French, from Latin philosophus, from Greek philosophos, from phil- + sophia wisdom, from sophos wise

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler

The first known use of philosopher was in the 14th century

See more words from the same century