punctualist

English

Etymology

From punctual +‎ -ist.

Noun

punctualist (plural punctualists)

  1. One who is very exact in observing forms and ceremonies.
    • 1642, John Milton, The Reason of Church-Government Urged against Prelaty, Book II, Ch. I:
      I know Bilson hath deciphered us all the gallantries of signore and monsignore, and monsieur, as circumstantially as any punctualist of Castile, Naples, or Fountain-Bleau, could have done: […]
  2. (music) A composer in the style of punctualism.
  3. (Buddhism) One who believes in punctualism (Buddhist view on individuality).
  4. (biology) One who believes in punctualism (view on evolution).
    Antonym: gradualist

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “punctualist”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

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