ESSAYIST Synonyms: 41 Similar and Opposite Words

essayist

noun

Definition of essayist

as in novelist

Related Words

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Dissimilar Words

nonauthor

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of essayist Sign in Václav Havel Václav Havel (1936–2011) was a playwright and essayist who served as the first president of the Czech Republic. — Václav Havel, The New York Review of Books, 3 Oct. 2026 The itinerary, The Soul of Japan, Living Like a Local by Pico Iyer, was shaped by the acclaimed travel writer and essayist, who has lived in Japan for nearly four decades. — Regan Stephens, Travel + Leisure, 17 Sep. 2026 Sun Yung Shin is an award-winning poet and essayist who was born in Korea, grew up in the Chicago area, and is currently based in Minneapolis. — Literary Hub, 15 Sep. 2026 Neal Ascherson encountered some of the twentieth century’s greatest tragedies as a veteran, journalist, essayist, historian, novelist, and political activist. — Emily Witt, New Yorker, 3 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for essayist

Recent Examples of Synonyms for essayist

Noun

He was dressed like a director, in blacks and blues—jeans, baseball cap, puffer coat, Hokas—but spoke and moved at the unhurried pace of a novelist, his original vocation.

— E. Tammy Kim, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
The competition was judged by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, novelist Neal Stephenson, Google‘s Mira Lane, Salesforce executive John Zissimos and ‘Star Trek’ steward Rod Roddenberry.

— Corbin Bolies, Variety, 9 Oct. 2026

Definition of novelist

Noun

Teaming up with the estate of the memoirist and playwright Lillian Hellman, who was the Mayo brothers’ half cousin, the family has continued its support.

— Ian Frazier, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
That’s a playwright’s wrestling match that, as my colleague Sara Holdren noted recently, doesn’t need an audience.

— Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 10 Oct. 2026

Definition of playwright

Noun

The tools of a novelist are totally different than the tools of a dramatist.

— Max Gao, Variety, 4 Oct. 2026
With this time-shaping device called the Chronovisor, Father Pellegrino Ernetti professed to have seen footage of the crucified Christ and even enjoyed a lost play staged by an ancient Roman dramatist.

— Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of dramatist

Noun

To be a good poet or pamphleteer, like Thomas Paine or Samuel Johnson, requires a kind of day-to-day daring, with triumphs made in conversation and correspondence; a good banker or stockbroker makes his in columns of numbers.

— Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 16 Mar. 2026
Even when insulted or thwarted – by Spanish intrigues on the Florida frontier, by British seizures in the Caribbean, by pamphleteers accusing him of being a monarch in disguise – Washington’s tone remained measured.

— Washington Post, Washington Post, 12 Jan. 2026

Definition of pamphleteer

Noun

The prolific Romanian satirist Radu Jude is back at NYFF with a new piece of sociological shrapnel.

— Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 16 Sep. 2026
Three hundred years ago, the satirist warned of a world in which reading and writing are replaced by the flashy simulation of human knowledge.

— Dónal Gill, The Dial, 8 Sep. 2026

Definition of satirist

Noun

The New Trends jury was presided over by director and editor Karen Harley; screenwriter Maira Oliveira; producer Dora Amorim; director and screenwriter Guto Parente.

— Rafa Sales Ross, Variety, 12 Oct. 2026
The musical features a new book by Eleanor Bergstein, the original screenwriter of the film, direction by Lonny Price (who played Neil Kellerman in the film) and choreography by Darrell Grand Moultrie (Fat Ham).

— Caitlin Huston, HollywoodReporter, 6 Oct. 2026

Definition of screenwriter

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Style

“Essayist.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/essayist. Accessed 14 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of essayist

noun

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