-ist

(redirected from -istics)

-ist

suff.

a. One that performs a specified action: lobbyist.

b. One that produces, makes, operates, plays, or is connected with a specified thing: novelist.

2. A specialist in a specified art, science, or skill: biologist.

3. An adherent or advocate of a specified doctrine, theory, or school of thought: anarchist.

4. One that is characterized by a specified trait or quality: romanticist.

[Middle English -iste, from Old French, from Latin -istēs, -ista, from Greek -istēs, agent n. suff.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

-ist

suffix

1. (forming nouns) a person who performs a certain action or is concerned with something specified: motorist; soloist.

2. (forming nouns) a person who practises in a specific field: physicist; typist.

3. (forming nouns and adjectives) a person who advocates a particular doctrine, system, etc, or relating to such a person or the doctrine advocated: socialist.

4. (forming nouns and adjectives) a person characterized by a specified trait, tendency, etc, or relating to such a person or trait: purist.

5. (forming nouns and adjectives) a person who is prejudiced on the basis specified: sexist; ageist.

[via Old French from Latin -ista, -istēs, from Greek -istēs]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

-ist

a suffix of nouns, often corresponding to verbs ending in -ize or nouns ending in -ism, that denote a person who practices, is expert in, or is concerned with something, or holds certain principles, doctrines, etc.: apologist; machinist; novelist; socialist; Thomist. Compare -ism, -istic, -ize.

[Middle English -iste < Latin -ista < Greek -istēs; in some words, representing French -iste, German -ist, Italian -ista, etc., « Latin < Greek]