rationalist

From Middle French rationaliste; rational +‎ -ist.

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rationalist (plural rationalists)

1. (philosophy) A person who follows the philosophy of rationalism.
   • 1930, Dorothy L. Sayers, Strong Poison:

     “He says,” replied Lord Peter, “that he believes Hannah to be a sincerely religious woman. He has sat beside her in chapel and shared her hymn-book.” “But that may be the merest hypocrisy,” said Miss Murchison, rather warmly, for she was militantly rationalist. “I don’t trust these unctuous people.”

2. A member of the rationalist community.
   • 2024 March 18, Andrew Marantz, “О.К., Doomer”, in The New Yorker, page 45:

     Some rationalists were in touch with Oxford philosophers, including Toby Ord and William MacAskill, the founders of the effective-altruism movement, which studied how to do the most good for humanity (and, by extension, how to avoid ending it).

• irrationalist
• traditionalist

• striational

Borrowed from French rationaliste. Equivalent to rationeel +‎ -ist.

• (Netherlands) IPA^(key): /ˌraː.(t)ʃoː.naːˈlɪst/

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• Hyphenation: ra‧ti‧o‧na‧list
• Rhymes: -ɪst

rationalist m (plural rationalisten, no diminutive)

1. rationalist (adherent of rationalism) [from early 18th c.]

• rationalistisch

• rationalisme

• Afrikaans: rasionalis
• → Indonesian: rasionalis