philosopher

noun

phi·​los·​o·​pher fə-ˈlä-s(ə-)fər 

1

a

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

b

: a student of philosophy

2

a

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

b

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

c

: one who philosophizes

Examples of philosopher in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Tabarrok cited a quote by the Italian philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli, that new things are harder to comprehend than old ones, even if the new ones might be better. —Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 9 Apr. 2026

As the political philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) wrote in his magnum opus Leviathan, there would be no culture, no navigation, no knowledge of the face of the earth, no arts, no letters, no society; instead, there would be rapes, thefts, murders, and continual fear of violence. —George G. Szpiro, Big Think, 9 Apr. 2026

Robert Sparrow, a philosopher at Monash University in Australia who is among the first to have written about the ethics of robotics, argues that robots carry two competing racial narratives. —Deni Ellis Béchard, Scientific American, 8 Apr. 2026

Victor Glover, one of the Artemis II crew, is quickly becoming something of a spacefaring philosopher. —The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 7 Apr. 2026

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

Phrases Containing philosopher

• philosopher's stone

Kids Definition

philosopher

noun

phi·​los·​o·​pher fə-ˈläs-(ə-)fər 

1

a

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

b

: a student of philosophy

2

: a person who is calm and patient when faced with trouble