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

Though Brandon has always been a keen environmentalist, dumpster diving has opened her eyes to it. —Mark Davis, Newsweek, 15 Mar. 2025

New York killed the Constitution pipeline in 2020, as the result of opposition from environmentalists. —Edmund H. Mahony, Hartford Courant, 14 Mar. 2025

American environmentalists should lead this building push. —Brian Deese, Foreign Affairs, 12 Mar. 2025

Yet Mayor Beam Furr, who spearheaded this expansion, has the audacity to call himself an environmentalist. —Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 4 Mar. 2025

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