capitalistn.adj.
/ˈkapᵻtl̩ɪst/, U.S. /ˈkæpədl̩əst/ A. n.
A person who possesses capital assets (see capital n.2 3a); esp. one who invests these esp. for profit in financial and business enterprises. Also: an advocate of capitalism or of an economic system based on capitalism.Sometimes used depreciatively: see note at capitalism n.2Frequently with modifying term. For anarcho-, anti-, post-, pre-, pro-, state, venture, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > financial dealings > [noun] > money-dealer > capitalist or financier
money-master1577
moneyed mana1593
financier1601
fooker1607
fowker1630
man of finance1701
moneyed interest1711
capitalist1774
fundlord1821
financialist1831
financian1840
financist1846
capitalizer1874
player1934
1774 P. Francis tr. I. de Pinto Ess. Circulation & Credit iii. 116 The number of persons who possess a real fortune (I mean, of those who would be subject to a capitation [Fr. taxables par capitation], and who, in Holland, are called the Capitalists [Fr. Capitalistes]) is very small in comparison with the other inhabitants.
1792 A. Young Trav. France 529 A gross evil of these direct imposts is, that of moneyed men, or capitalists, escaping all taxation.
1845 B. Disraeli Sybil I. ii. xiii. 264 The capitalist flourishes, he amasses immense wealth; we sink, lower and lower; lower than the beasts of burthen.
1891 Athenæum 24 Oct. 545/2 [Prof. Marshall pleads] for the collective good against the too pertinacious individualism of monopolizing capitalists.
1949 Here & Now (N.Z.) Oct. 11/2 Far from being the predatory capitalist, he offers himself as the profit-sharing employer.
1974 M. B. Brown Econ. Imperialism iii. 63 At this stage competition between capitalists had led to monopolies..fighting it out the world over.
1992 W. M. Dugger Underground Econ. iii. 14 He was not a devout capitalist. In fact, he questioned whether the common man was worse off under Joseph Stalin's communism than under raw capitalism.
2010 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 14 Jan. 65/2 The whole point of regulation is to homogenize capitalists' behavior in a direction the regulators predict will be prudent.
B. adj.
Designating a capitalist; relating to or engaged in the accumulation of capital; ideologically committed to capitalism as an economic system. Cf. capitalistic adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > financial dealings > [adjective] > of or relating to capitalists
capitalist1817
capitalistic1850
1817 Colonial Jrnl. June 412 The capitalist-shareholders will have the power of changing their capitalist shares into colonial shares.
1845 J. S. Mill in Edinb. Rev. 81 525 This is true of capitalist farmers..but not of labourer-farmers.
1894 Westm. Gaz. 13 Sept. 3/1 We are all for nationalisation when it suits our purpose, even the most capitalist among us.
1941 J. Burnham Managem. Revol. vi. 70 The theory of the managerial revolution asserts..the following: Modern society has been organized through a..set of major economic, social, and political institutions which we call capitalist.
1995 L. Garrett Coming Plague (new ed.) vii. 200 The Western capitalist governments generally ignored the Group of 77's demands when possible, and effectively counterargued when necessary.
2006 A. Steffen et al. Worldchanging (2008) 458/1 Being a yardbird is much less pleasant than merely being a passive accomplice to the continuation of the capitalist power structure.
Compounds
C1. Compounds of the noun.
a. Forming adjectives with past participles, as capitalist-controlled, capitalist-owned, capitalist-ridden, etc.
ΚΠ
1844 Morning Post 12 Apr. 3/1 It is exclusively a money question as are the cotton, the corn, the factory,..and other questions..of these capitalist-ridden kingdoms.
1890 Dawn 2 162 How long will private capitalists and a capitalist-owned press delude people into fancying Socialism unpracticable?
1907 W. Hurt Scarlet Shadow 301 Jesus was guilty of teaching dangerous social theories—doctrines so dangerous that they are suppressed to this day in a capitalist-controlled church.
1963 N. A. Graebner Cold War p. x/1 Soviet analysts announced..that industrial prosperity in the capitalist-dominated world was false and destined to be short-lived.
1995 M. Daheim Major Vices xviii. 240 Dad didn't believe in the capitalist-based principles of public education, so he home-schooled me.
2006 Leicester Mercury (Nexis) 11 Aug. 15 The US and the capitalist-controlled media don't want people knowing about the many achievements since the 1959 [Cuban] revolution.
b. Forming adjectives with present participles, as capitalist-hating, capitalist-leaning, capitalist-loving, etc.
ΚΠ
1849 Standard 22 Nov. 2/1 It is almost inconceivable how every form of industry should have been surrendered without remonstrance to English capitalist-worshipping governments.
1890 Dawn 2 204 A ridiculous man-of-straw which any capitalist-loving writer can overthrow.
1937 Marxist Q. 1 161 And if a capitalist-hating God were concocted who was at heart a permanent revolutionary and communist..why could not belief in him and his heaven be a real help and inspiration to the proletariat?
1979 F. C. Teiwes Politics & Purges in China xi. 570 One of the topics most frequently raised was the question of differentiating between legitimate sideline occupations and those which were capitalist leaning.
1994 P. Heywood in M. J. Bull & P. Heywood West European Communist Parties After Revol. of 1989 iii. 83 In the short-term..one socialist response..has been to don a decidedly capitalist-looking cloak.
2007 S. Landau Bush & Botox World 62 The 1930s business villains of John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath..gave way to capitalist-loving heroes in Ayn Rand's novels.
C2. Compounds of the adjective.
capitalist imperialism n. advocacy of or support for imperialism by capitalists (typically presented by communist writers as a natural consequence of the capitalist system); (later also more generally) the extension and maintenance of a capitalist country's power or influence over other countries, often those with less well-developed industrial and economic infrastructures.Usually with negative connotations.
ΚΠ
1901 Westm. Rev. Sept. 244 This [wealth] must find an outlet abroad since it can be no longer disposed of profitably at home. Hence the policy of capitalist Imperialism.
1932 T. Woody New Minds, New Men? vi. 156 Workers must understand this, and unite against their oppressors... Capitalist imperialism is decaying and destroying itself.
1994 Gazette (Montreal) (Nexis) 24 Dec. b1 A century of capitalist imperialism was blamed for the problems of the Third World.
2003 A. Mitzman Prometheus Revisited v. 162 They [sc. young people] rejected the brutal hypocrisy of an allegedly humanist political ideology that in Vietnam..masked capitalist imperialism behind the pretense of democracy.
capitalist-imperialist adj. and n. [probably after German kapitalistisch-imperialistisch (1883 or earlier)] (a) adj. of, relating to, or characterized by capitalist imperialism; (b) n. a supporter or advocate of capitalist imperialism.Usually with negative connotations.
ΚΠ
1902 J. A. Hobson Imperialism i. vii. 104 Were the capitalist-imperialist forces openly to shift the burden of taxation on to the shoulders of the people [etc.].
1902 Internat. Socialist Rev. Mar. 688 The Irish Home Rule Party also opposed the Socialist candidate and urged the Irish voters in Dewsbury to support the capitalist imperialist.
1937 ‘G. Orwell’ Road to Wigan Pier xii. 247 The capitalist-imperialist governments..will not fight with any conviction against Fascism.
1954 Life 8 Mar. 129/2 We are eager to contribute whatever we can to the glorious fight against the capitalist imperialists.
1964 L. A. Mills Southeast Asia ix. 224 The foreign investor is considered to be a capitalist imperialist exploiter.
1978 R. G. Wesson Lenin's Legacy iii. 86 The fact that the Western powers behaved as only halfhearted capitalist-imperialists permitted the survival of the Soviet state.
1998 S. Strange Mad Money vi. 99 Lenin predicted the inevitable clash of national capitalist-imperialist states.
2005 P. Gottfried Strange Death of Marxism ii. 45 Sartre..congratulated Castro for breaking with American capitalist-imperialists.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.adj.1774