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

The vehicle’s first test mission notably blew up a launchpad in South Texas, causing a blizzard of debris and sparking backlash from environmentalists. —Jackie Wattles, CNN, 30 Jan. 2025

Purnell plays an activist environmentalist and Ifans is a rodent catcher. —Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 27 Jan. 2025

There is no greater environmentalist than someone living in space, rebreathing their own air and re-drinking their own fluids. —Rick Tumlinson, Space.com, 23 Jan. 2025

Understanding how growth drives the global financial system can support environmentalists in rethinking what economic futures our world can withstand. —Aissa Dearing, JSTOR Daily, 9 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1903, in the meaning defined above

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