Elitist

How to spell elitist

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce elitist

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does elitist mean?

1. nounA person who believes a select group should be favoured or hold power because of their supposed superiority.
2. adjectiveReflecting the belief that a privileged or talented few deserve special advantage or influence.

Elitist in a sentence

• noun

  Critics dismissed him as an elitist who looked down on ordinary workers.

• adjective

  The admissions policy was attacked as elitist and out of touch.

• noun

  The columnist was branded an elitist for sneering at popular tastes.

• adjective

  The club shed its elitist image by lowering its membership fees.

Where does elitist come from?

Language of origin: French

The word is built on elite, which English took from the French élite in the eighteenth century. That French noun meant 'the chosen ones' or 'the best part' and descended from the Old French eslite, the past participle of eslire, 'to choose' or 'to pick out'. Behind that lies the Latin verb eligere, meaning 'to select', formed from e- 'out' and legere 'to gather or read', the same legere that gives us 'select' and 'elect'. By the nineteenth and twentieth centuries English speakers were using 'elite' for a privileged few, and the suffix -ist was added to label a person who believes that such a select group should hold power or be favoured. The single l and single t catch many writers who instinctively want to double a consonant, and the ending follows the same -ist pattern as 'purist' and 'idealist'.

How the word is built

• elite (from French élite: the chosen, the best)
• -ist (one who advocates or belongs to)