capitalist

Pluralcapitalists

1. 1
   nouncountable

   Someone who uses accumulated wealth to fund business ventures, aiming to get back more than they put in.

   The capitalist spread her funds across a dozen startups, expecting most to fail and a few to succeed.

   Wealthy capitalists financed the canal, betting that toll revenue would repay them many times over.

   Similarinvestor, financier, backer

   Note

   Here the person is defined by what their money does, not by how much of it there is, which separates this sense from the merely wealthy owner. Karl Marx calls this figure "capital personified," and Friedrich Engels sets capitalists, who hold the means of production, against producers who own only their labor-power. Financier and industrialist are close neighbors, but in political economy capitalist names a class as much as a career.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A person who supports the economic system of capitalism.

   A committed capitalist, she championed deregulation and praised entrepreneurs at every turn.

   The young capitalists at the forum insisted that free enterprise lifts people out of poverty.

   Oppositesocialist, communist

   Note

   The noun of conviction: it describes someone who backs the system, whether or not they own much capital. Its synonyms include economic liberal and free enterpriser. Plain liberal belongs on that list only in its economic sense, so it is worth checking which sense a reader will hear. Clive Thompson's 2007 "nomadic hipster capitalists" shows the label worn lightly, even with a wink.

3. 3
   adjective

   Relating to or characteristic of capitalism and its system of private ownership and markets.

   The reforms pushed the nation toward a more capitalist framework of private ownership and open markets.

   Capitalist enterprise flourished once the government lifted its trade restrictions.

   Similarfree-market

   Oppositesocialist, communist

   Note

   Here the word classifies rather than takes sides: a capitalist economy or country is described by how it is organized, not praised for it. It came from French capitaliste, capital plus -ist, and reaches back to an Indo-European root meaning "head". The adjective grades readily (more capitalist, most capitalist), and Matthew Desmond, writing in 2019, insists there are many types of capitalist societies, not one.

4. 4
   adjective

   Expressing support for or endorsement of capitalism.

   The party adopted a firmly capitalist platform, calling for lower taxes and freer trade.

   His capitalist arguments won over the undecided voters in the hall.

   Similarfree-market, pro-business

   Oppositesocialist, communist

   Note

   A label people put on themselves or their politics. At a 2017 CNN town hall, Nancy Pelosi told a questioner "we're capitalist — and that is just the way it is," then added that capitalism was not meeting every need. The adjective of allegiance can be worn plainly, even grudgingly. It names where one stands, which is not the same as uncritical praise. A person who holds this stance is a supporter of capitalism.

5. 5
   nouncountable

   A person who owns a considerable amount of capital and is therefore wealthy.

   The railway capitalist left a fortune large enough to fund a university.

   A handful of capitalists controlled most of the city's wealth.

   Similartycoon, magnate, plutocrat

   Note

   Wealth as possession rather than activity. Edward Cooke in 1818 and John Rooke in 1824 both write of "a wealthy capitalist" moving land and property, and Thackeray's The Newcomes pairs capitalists with "City magnates." The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineer's Monthly Journal of 1882 sneers that the capitalist is "often the mere inheritor of wealth." Contrast the investor, whose capital is put to work.

6. 6
   adjectivenonstandard

   American, used especially by communist states during the Cold War to describe the United States and its allies.

   Soviet broadcasts railed against the capitalist warmongers across the ocean.

   The minister accused the capitalist nations of plotting against the workers' republic.

   SimilarWestern, imperialist

   Note

   A political epithet standing in for a nationality: in Cold War usage, a country was named by its economic system rather than by its name. The use is nonstandard and carries the polemic of its period. In neutral writing, American or the country's own name is the safe choice, and capitalist is better kept for its descriptive economic sense.

Showing meanings only. Show all 6