positivist
positivist noun: a believer in positivism.
Noun
positivist (plural positivists)
- A believer in positivism.
- 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...1886, Thomas H. Huxley, Science and Morals
- By discouraging what they conceive to be the weakness of their master, the English Positivists have broken the strength of their religion. A man who has faith must be prepared not only to be a martyr, but to be a fool.1905, Gilbert K[eith] Chesterton, “Christmas and the Æsthetes”, in Heretics, London; New York, N.Y.: John Lane; The Bodley Head, →OCLC, page 97
- Synonyms:
- Comtist
Adjective
positivist (not comparable)
- Related to positivism, positivistic.
- 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.1999, Clive Seale, The Quality of Qualitative Research, page 34
- 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.2010 June 4, Marilynne Robinson, “Marilynne Robinson: Can science solve life's mysteries?”, in The Guardian
positivist meaning in Hindi, Tamil and Arabic
positivist in Hindi
- believer in positivism
- प्रत्यक्षवादी pratyakṣavādī, तथ्यवादी tathyavādī
- related to positivism
- प्रत्यक्षवादी pratyakṣavādī, तथ्यवादी tathyavādī
positivist in Tamil
- நேர்கோட்பாட்டாளர்
positivist in Arabic
- believer in positivism
- وَاقِعِيّ wāqiʕiyy
- related to positivism
- وَاقِعِيّ wāqiʕiyy
Examples of positivist in a sentence
- 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.1886, Thomas H. Huxley, Science and Morals:
- He is a positivist; he will not begin with any dogmas about the nature of man, or any day-dreams about the mystery of fire.1912, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, “The Man Who Thinks Backwards”, in A Miscellany of Men:
- I have read the books of the "Positivists", and attended their imitation church in London, but I did not get any satisfaction from them.1917, Upton Sinclair, “The Knowable”, in The Profits of Religion […] , book 7:
Synonyms of positivist
Forms of positivist
| plural | positivists |
|---|
Origin of positivist
Perhaps borrowed from French positiviste. Equivalent to positive + -ist, after positivism.
Words formed from positivist
Questions about positivist
- What does positivist mean?
- Positivist means a believer in positivism.
- What is positivist in Hindi?
- Positivist in Hindi is प्रत्यक्षवादी (pratyakṣavādī), तथ्यवादी (tathyavādī). See Positivist meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use positivist in a sentence?
- 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.
- What part of speech is positivist?
- Positivist can be a noun or an adjective.
- What is the plural of positivist?
- The plural of positivist is positivists.
Words near positivist in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: positivist (page history and authors); positivist (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “positivist.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/positivist. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.