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environmentalist

/ɛnvaɪərnˈmɛntəlɪst/
/ɛnvaɪənˈmɛntəlɪst/
IPA guide

Other forms: environmentalists

If you're a true environmentalist, you care deeply enough about the natural world to make protecting it a real priority. You may even have made it your life's work.

These days, there's no shortage of work for the world's environmentalists. What with climate change, oil spills, gas drilling, deforestation, and species decline (just to name a few), there's almost no time to breathe. Show me an environmentalist with nothing to do, and I'll show you someone who isn't paying attention. Environmentalists — people who work to protect the environment — often work hand in hand with conservationists, whose job is to protect and maintain as much of the natural world as possible.

Definitions of environmentalist
  1. noun
    someone who works to protect the environment from destruction or pollution
    synonyms: conservationist
    see moresee less
    examples:
    Rachel Louise Carson
    United States biologist remembered for her opposition to the use of pesticides that were hazardous to wildlife (1907-1964)
    Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth
    English economist and conservationist (1914-1981)
    types:
    Green
    an environmentalist who belongs to the Green Party
    tree hugger
    derogatory term for environmentalists who support restrictions on the logging industry and the preservation of forests
    type of:
    crusader, meliorist, reformer, reformist, social reformer
    a person or group who pushes to improve an institution or system by changing it
Pronunciation
US
/ɛnvaɪərnˈmɛntəlɪst/
UK
/ɛnvaɪənˈmɛntəlɪst/
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DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘environmentalist'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
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