naturalist

/ˈnætʃərələst/

/ˈnætʃərəlɪst/

Other forms: naturalists

That neighborhood kid who is always collecting butterflies and leaves? He just might grow up to be a naturalist, or a scientist who specializes in studying nature.

A biologist whose interest lies primarily in the study of plants or animals can be called a naturalist, although these days it's more likely she'll be called a natural historian, a botanist, or a zoologist. The noun naturalist comes from the Latin word natura, "course of things, natural character, the universe," or literally, "birth." Be careful not to confuse naturalist with naturist, which is another word for a person who prefers to be naked — a nudist.

Definitions of naturalist

1. noun

   a biologist knowledgeable about natural history (especially botany and zoology)
   synonyms: natural scientist

   examples:

   Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz

   United States naturalist (born in Switzerland) who studied fossil fish; recognized geological evidence that ice ages had occurred in North America (1807-1873)

   Roy Chapman Andrews

   United States naturalist who contributed to paleontology and geology (1884-1960)

   Georges Leopold Chretien Frederic Dagobert Cuvier

   French naturalist known as the father of comparative anatomy (1769-1832)

   Charles Robert Darwin

   English natural scientist who formulated a theory of evolution by natural selection (1809-1882)

   Konrad von Gesner

   Swiss naturalist who was one of the founders of modern zoology (1516-1565)

   William Henry Hudson

   English naturalist (born in Argentina) (1841-1922)

   Baron Friedrich Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt

   German naturalist who explored Central and South America and provided a comprehensive description of the physical universe (1769-1859)

   Jean Baptiste de Lamarck

   French naturalist who proposed that evolution resulted from the inheritance of acquired characteristics (1744-1829)

   John Muir

   United States naturalist (born in Scotland) who advocated the creation of national parks (1838-1914)

   Lorenz Okenfuss

   German naturalist whose speculations that plants and animals are made up of tiny living `infusoria' led to the cell theory (1779-1851)

   Georg Wilhelm Steller

   German naturalist (1709-1746)

   Jan Swammerdam

   Dutch naturalist and microscopist who proposed a classification of insects and who was among the first to recognize cells in animals and was the first to see red blood cells (1637-1680)

   Alfred Russel Wallace

   English naturalist who formulated a concept of evolution that resembled Charles Darwin's (1823-1913)

   type of:

   biologist, life scientist

   (biology) a scientist who studies living organisms
2. noun

   an advocate of the doctrine that the world can be understood in scientific terms
   type of:

   philosopher

   a specialist in philosophy