truther

noun truth·er \ ˈtrü-thər \

|Updated on: 16 Jul 2018

Definition of truther

: one who believes that the truth about an important subject or event is being concealed from the public by a powerful conspiracy

He isn't a 9/11 truther, as some erroneously allege, but he has his fair share of "out there" beliefs.
—Felix Blederman

But it is not flattering to be called a "truther." The term originated, as far as anyone can tell, to characterize people who embraced alternative explanations for the Sept. 11 attacks.
—Mark Leibovich

Recent Examples of truther from the Web

Alex Jones, the shouty man behind InfoWars and a Sandy Hook truther, took to Twitter at the start of last week to try and incite more fear amongst his fanbase.

— graeme mcmillan, WIRED, "While You Were Offline: Man, Twitter Loves a Good Civil War Meme, Huh?," 8 July 2018
The nerds had their subreddits and Metafilter threads, the artists had their zines and Tumblrs, the 9/11 truthers had their email lists and subway pamphlets.

— kevin roose, New York Times, "Can ‘Illuminati Tinder’ Save Us All?," 27 June 2018
In fact, top-sheet truthers are passionate and offer reams (bolts?) of compelling evidence for the superiority of this choice.

— liz krieger, Town & Country, "It’s Time to Say Goodbye to Top Sheets For Good," 20 June 2018
These Shazaam truthers were all riffing off one another, giving each other subtle suggestions to form a false narrative that exists in their minds.

— brian resnick, Vox, "Fake media is coming for our memories," 20 Apr. 2018
Yes, and sometimes that wins out over aluminum cancer truthers.

— adam hurly, GQ, "These Are the Old School Grooming Rules You Should Be Breaking," 28 Mar. 2018
The Sixers were always a bit of a sleeper team this season, but even the most excited Hinkie truther would likely have been hard-pressed to guess this team would win 50 games.

— the crossover staff, SI.com, "The Crossover's 2018 NBA Awards: A Rookie of the Year Battle for the Ages," 11 Apr. 2018
The seemingly innocuous exchange has become a touchstone for UFO-sighting enthusiasts and alien truthers, and now, seemingly fake news.

— alex horton, Washington Post, "No, Buzz Aldrin didn’t see a UFO on his way to the moon," 10 Apr. 2018
This seems to be a reversal for Zuckerberg, who was once a fake-news truther.

— jane mayer, The New Yorker, "Reddit and the Struggle to Detoxify the Internet," 12 Mar. 2018

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