Socialist

How to spell socialist

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce socialist

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does socialist mean?

1. nounA person who supports socialism, a system favouring collective or state ownership and the cooperative management of resources.
2. adjectiveRelating to or advocating socialism.

Socialist in a sentence

• noun

  The candidate described herself as a lifelong socialist committed to public services.

• adjective

  The party adopted a socialist programme of nationalised healthcare.

• noun

  As a socialist, he argued that key industries should be publicly owned.

• adjective

  The country's socialist government raised taxes on large corporations.

Where does socialist come from?

Language of origin: French

The word traces back to the Latin socius, which literally meant 'companion, partner, or ally', the same root that gives us 'society' and 'associate'. From socius came the Latin adjective socialis, meaning 'of companionship' or 'allied'. The modern political sense grew in early nineteenth-century France, where socialiste described someone advocating collective ownership and cooperation over individual competition; English adopted 'socialist' in the 1820s and 1830s as those ideas spread. The spelling preserves the soft 'ci' that sounds like 'sh', which is the main trap, since the letters look nothing like the sound. Knowing the buried socius (companion) helps explain why the idea centres on people sharing and acting together.

How the word is built

• soci- (from Latin socius: companion, ally)
• -al (adjective suffix)
• -ist (one who holds a belief or practises)