"positivist" meaning in English

See positivist in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Forms: more positivist [comparative], most positivist [superlative]
Etymology: Perhaps borrowed from French positiviste. Equivalent to positive + -ist, after positivism. Etymology templates: {{bor|en|fr|positiviste}} French positiviste, {{suffix|en|positive|ist}} positive + -ist, {{m|en|positivism}} positivism Head templates: {{en-adj}} positivist (comparative more positivist, superlative most positivist)
  1. Related to positivism, positivistic. Derived forms: neopositivist Translations (related to positivism): وَاقِعِيّ (wāqiʕiyy) [masculine] (Arabic), positivista (Catalan), positivistinen (Finnish), positivistisch (German), позитиви́стский (pozitivístskij) [masculine] (Russian), позитиви́стская (pozitivístskaja) [feminine] (Russian), позитиви́стское (pozitivístskoje) [neuter] (Russian), pozitivistický (Slovak), positivista (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-positivist-en-adj-4IGbIthd Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms suffixed with -ist Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 52 48 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -ist: 48 52

Noun

Forms: positivists [plural]
Etymology: Perhaps borrowed from French positiviste. Equivalent to positive + -ist, after positivism. Etymology templates: {{bor|en|fr|positiviste}} French positiviste, {{suffix|en|positive|ist}} positive + -ist, {{m|en|positivism}} positivism Head templates: {{en-noun}} positivist (plural positivists)
  1. A believer in positivism. Synonyms: Comtist Derived forms: logical positivist Translations (a believer in positivism): وَاقِعِيّ (wāqiʕiyy) [masculine] (Arabic), positivista [feminine, masculine] (Catalan), pozitivista [masculine] (Czech), Positivist [masculine] (German), Positivistin [feminine] (German), positivista [common-gender] (Portuguese), позитиви́ст (pozitivíst) [masculine] (Russian), pozitivista [masculine] (Slovak), pozitivistka [feminine] (Slovak), positivista [feminine, masculine] (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-positivist-en-noun-OHTjT0~M Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms suffixed with -ist Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 52 48 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -ist: 48 52

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for positivist meaning in English (7.3kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
        "3": "positiviste"
      },
      "expansion": "French positiviste",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "positive",
        "3": "ist"
      },
      "expansion": "positive + -ist",
      "name": "suffix"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "positivism"
      },
      "expansion": "positivism",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Perhaps borrowed from French positiviste. Equivalent to positive + -ist, after positivism.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "positivists",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "positivist (plural positivists)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "52 48",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -ist",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "logical positivist"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1886, Thomas H. Huxley, Science and Morals",
          "text": "The English mind is prone to positivism and kindred forms of materialistic philosophy, and we must expect the derivative theory to be taken up in that interest. We have no predilection for that school, but the contrary. If we had, we might have looked complacently upon a line of criticism which would indirectly, but effectively, play into the hands of positivists and materialistic atheists generally.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007 May 11, Ross Douthat, quoting Joseph Ratzinger, “Be Not Afraid?”, in The Atlantic",
          "text": "However vigorously he may assert that he is a pure positivist, who has long left behind him supernatural tendencies and weaknesses, and now accepts only what is immediately certain, he will never be free of the secret uncertainty whether positivism really has the last word.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020, Marcus Gilroy-Ware, chapter 4, in After the Fact?, Repeater",
          "text": "Freedom of expression tends to be associated primarily with nineteenth-century English philosopher John Stuart Mill, whose treatise On Liberty is most frequently reached for by freedom of expression positivists, although it did not mention any “free marketplace” of ideas.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A believer in positivism."
      ],
      "id": "en-positivist-en-noun-OHTjT0~M",
      "links": [
        [
          "positivism",
          "positivism"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "Comtist"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "ar",
          "lang": "Arabic",
          "roman": "wāqiʕiyy",
          "sense": "a believer in positivism",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "وَاقِعِيّ"
        },
        {
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "a believer in positivism",
          "tags": [
            "feminine",
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "positivista"
        },
        {
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "a believer in positivism",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "pozitivista"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "a believer in positivism",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Positivist"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "a believer in positivism",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Positivistin"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "a believer in positivism",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "positivista"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "pozitivíst",
          "sense": "a believer in positivism",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "позитиви́ст"
        },
        {
          "code": "sk",
          "lang": "Slovak",
          "sense": "a believer in positivism",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "pozitivista"
        },
        {
          "code": "sk",
          "lang": "Slovak",
          "sense": "a believer in positivism",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "pozitivistka"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "a believer in positivism",
          "tags": [
            "feminine",
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "positivista"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "positivist"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
        "3": "positiviste"
      },
      "expansion": "French positiviste",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "positive",
        "3": "ist"
      },
      "expansion": "positive + -ist",
      "name": "suffix"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "positivism"
      },
      "expansion": "positivism",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Perhaps borrowed from French positiviste. Equivalent to positive + -ist, after positivism.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more positivist",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most positivist",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "positivist (comparative more positivist, superlative most positivist)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "52 48",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -ist",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "neopositivist"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1999, Clive Seale, The Quality of Qualitative Research, page 34",
          "text": "The positivist tradition contains some rigorous, well-argued and stimulating methodological discussions; such material should be required reading for qualitative researchers wishing to enhance the quality of their practice.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010 June 4, Marilynne Robinson, “Marilynne Robinson: Can science solve life's mysteries?”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "Making use of the conceptual vocabulary of science to exclude a possibility that in a present state of knowledge—or a former one—that vocabulary would seem to exclude, has been the mission of positivist thinking since Auguste Comte declared scientific knowledge effectively complete.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016 February 8, Christine Gross-Loh, “How to Make History Exciting”, in The Atlantic",
          "text": "While a positivist view of history—the 19th-century notion that history was akin to a science, and that the accumulation of historical facts would eventually lead to an objective understanding of events—fell out of favor long ago, this idea seems to remain the operative assumption behind traditional history curricula that emphasize content, chronology, and comprehensiveness.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Related to positivism, positivistic."
      ],
      "id": "en-positivist-en-adj-4IGbIthd",
      "links": [
        [
          "positivism",
          "positivism"
        ],
        [
          "positivistic",
          "positivistic"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "ar",
          "lang": "Arabic",
          "roman": "wāqiʕiyy",
          "sense": "related to positivism",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "وَاقِعِيّ"
        },
        {
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "related to positivism",
          "word": "positivista"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "related to positivism",
          "word": "positivistinen"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "related to positivism",
          "word": "positivistisch"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "pozitivístskij",
          "sense": "related to positivism",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "позитиви́стский"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "pozitivístskaja",
          "sense": "related to positivism",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "позитиви́стская"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "pozitivístskoje",
          "sense": "related to positivism",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "позитиви́стское"
        },
        {
          "code": "sk",
          "lang": "Slovak",
          "sense": "related to positivism",
          "word": "pozitivistický"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "related to positivism",
          "word": "positivista"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "positivist"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms borrowed from French",
    "English terms derived from French",
    "English terms suffixed with -ist"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "logical positivist"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
        "3": "positiviste"
      },
      "expansion": "French positiviste",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "positive",
        "3": "ist"
      },
      "expansion": "positive + -ist",
      "name": "suffix"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "positivism"
      },
      "expansion": "positivism",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Perhaps borrowed from French positiviste. Equivalent to positive + -ist, after positivism.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "positivists",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "positivist (plural positivists)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1886, Thomas H. Huxley, Science and Morals",
          "text": "The English mind is prone to positivism and kindred forms of materialistic philosophy, and we must expect the derivative theory to be taken up in that interest. We have no predilection for that school, but the contrary. If we had, we might have looked complacently upon a line of criticism which would indirectly, but effectively, play into the hands of positivists and materialistic atheists generally.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007 May 11, Ross Douthat, quoting Joseph Ratzinger, “Be Not Afraid?”, in The Atlantic",
          "text": "However vigorously he may assert that he is a pure positivist, who has long left behind him supernatural tendencies and weaknesses, and now accepts only what is immediately certain, he will never be free of the secret uncertainty whether positivism really has the last word.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020, Marcus Gilroy-Ware, chapter 4, in After the Fact?, Repeater",
          "text": "Freedom of expression tends to be associated primarily with nineteenth-century English philosopher John Stuart Mill, whose treatise On Liberty is most frequently reached for by freedom of expression positivists, although it did not mention any “free marketplace” of ideas.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A believer in positivism."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "positivism",
          "positivism"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "Comtist"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ar",
      "lang": "Arabic",
      "roman": "wāqiʕiyy",
      "sense": "a believer in positivism",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "وَاقِعِيّ"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "a believer in positivism",
      "tags": [
        "feminine",
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "positivista"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "a believer in positivism",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "pozitivista"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "a believer in positivism",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Positivist"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "a believer in positivism",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Positivistin"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "a believer in positivism",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "positivista"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "pozitivíst",
      "sense": "a believer in positivism",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "позитиви́ст"
    },
    {
      "code": "sk",
      "lang": "Slovak",
      "sense": "a believer in positivism",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "pozitivista"
    },
    {
      "code": "sk",
      "lang": "Slovak",
      "sense": "a believer in positivism",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "pozitivistka"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "a believer in positivism",
      "tags": [
        "feminine",
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "positivista"
    }
  ],
  "word": "positivist"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms borrowed from French",
    "English terms derived from French",
    "English terms suffixed with -ist"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "neopositivist"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
        "3": "positiviste"
      },
      "expansion": "French positiviste",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "positive",
        "3": "ist"
      },
      "expansion": "positive + -ist",
      "name": "suffix"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "positivism"
      },
      "expansion": "positivism",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Perhaps borrowed from French positiviste. Equivalent to positive + -ist, after positivism.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more positivist",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most positivist",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "positivist (comparative more positivist, superlative most positivist)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1999, Clive Seale, The Quality of Qualitative Research, page 34",
          "text": "The positivist tradition contains some rigorous, well-argued and stimulating methodological discussions; such material should be required reading for qualitative researchers wishing to enhance the quality of their practice.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010 June 4, Marilynne Robinson, “Marilynne Robinson: Can science solve life's mysteries?”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "Making use of the conceptual vocabulary of science to exclude a possibility that in a present state of knowledge—or a former one—that vocabulary would seem to exclude, has been the mission of positivist thinking since Auguste Comte declared scientific knowledge effectively complete.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016 February 8, Christine Gross-Loh, “How to Make History Exciting”, in The Atlantic",
          "text": "While a positivist view of history—the 19th-century notion that history was akin to a science, and that the accumulation of historical facts would eventually lead to an objective understanding of events—fell out of favor long ago, this idea seems to remain the operative assumption behind traditional history curricula that emphasize content, chronology, and comprehensiveness.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Related to positivism, positivistic."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "positivism",
          "positivism"
        ],
        [
          "positivistic",
          "positivistic"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ar",
      "lang": "Arabic",
      "roman": "wāqiʕiyy",
      "sense": "related to positivism",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "وَاقِعِيّ"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "related to positivism",
      "word": "positivista"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "related to positivism",
      "word": "positivistinen"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "related to positivism",
      "word": "positivistisch"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "pozitivístskij",
      "sense": "related to positivism",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "позитиви́стский"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "pozitivístskaja",
      "sense": "related to positivism",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "позитиви́стская"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "pozitivístskoje",
      "sense": "related to positivism",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "позитиви́стское"
    },
    {
      "code": "sk",
      "lang": "Slovak",
      "sense": "related to positivism",
      "word": "pozitivistický"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "related to positivism",
      "word": "positivista"
    }
  ],
  "word": "positivist"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.