Meanings
nounscientist (plural scientists)
plural scientists
- One whose activities make use of the scientific method to answer questions regarding the measurable universe. A scientist may be involved in original research, or make use of the results of the research of others.
The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.
2013 June 21, Karen McVeigh, “US Rules Human Genes Can’t Be Patented”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, →ISSN, page 102 more examples
As we cannot use physician for a cultivator of physics, I have called him a physicist. We need very much a name to describe a cultivator of science in general. I should incline to call him a Scientist. Thus we might say, that as an Artist is a Musician, Painter, or Poet, a Scientist is a Mathematician, Physicist, or Naturalist.
1840, William Whewell, “Aphorisms Concerning the Language of Science. Aphorism XVI. In the Composition and Inflexion of Technical Terms, Philological Analogies are to be Preserved if Possible, but Modified According to Scientific Convenience.”, in The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, Founded upon Their History. […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […]; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: J. and J. J. Deighton, →OCLC, paragraph 4(3), page cxiiiBecoming more aware of the progress that scientists have made on behavioral fronts can reduce the risk that other natural scientists will resort to mystical agential accounts when they exceed the limits of their own disciplinary training.
2012 January, Stephen Ledoux, “Behaviorism at 100”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, United States: Sigma Xi, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 60Synonyms: beaker
Synonyms & antonyms
nounOne whose activities make use of the scientific method to answer questions regarding the measurable universe. A scientist may be involved in original research, or make use of the results of the research of others.
Similar
Origin
Coined by English philosopher and historian of science William Whewell in March 1834 in an anonymous review of Mary Somerville's book On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences in the Quarterly Review as a suggested replacement for, and later seriously introduced by him in 1840 (see the quotation) as a more precise substitute for, the terms natural philosopher and man of science. Modeled after artist, from the Latin stem scientia (“knowledge”) + -ist.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans wetenskaplike
- wetenskaplikeone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Arabic عَالِم, عَالِمَة
- عَالِم (ʕālim)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
- عَالِمَة (ʕālima)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
Basque zientzialari
- zientzialarione whose activities make use of the scientific method
Bengali বিজ্ঞানী, আলেম
- বিজ্ঞানী (biggêni)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
- আলেম (alem)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
Bulgarian у́чен, у́чена
- у́чен (účen)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
- у́чена (účena)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
Catalan científic, científica
- científicone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- científicaone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Chinese Cantonese 科學家 /科学家
- 科學家 /科学家 (fo¹ hok⁶ gaa¹)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
Chinese Mandarin 科學家 /科学家
- 科學家 /科学家 (kēxuéjiā)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
Czech vědec, vědkyně
- vědecone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- vědkyněone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Danish videnskabsmand, videnskabskvinde
- videnskabsmandone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- videnskabskvindeone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Dutch wetenschapper, wetenschapster
- wetenschapperone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- wetenschapsterone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Esperanto sciencisto, scientisto
- sciencistoone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- scientistoone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Estonian teadlane
- teadlaneone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Finnish tieteilijä, tiedemies
- tieteilijäone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- tiedemiesone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- tiedenainenone whose activities make use of the scientific method
French scientifique, savant
- scientifiqueone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- savantone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- savanteone whose activities make use of the scientific method
German Wissenschaftler, Wissenschaftlerin
- Wissenschaftlerone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- Wissenschaftlerinone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- Wissenschafterone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- Wissenschafterinone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Greek επιστήμονας, επιστημόνισσα
- επιστήμονας (epistímonas)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
- επιστημόνισσα (epistimónissa)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
Hebrew מַדְעָן, מדענית
- מַדְעָן (mad'án)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
- מדעניתone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Hindi वैज्ञानिक, आलिम
- वैज्ञानिक (vaijñānik)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
- आलिम (ālim)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
- विज्ञानी (vijñānī)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
Hungarian tudós
- tudósone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Icelandic vísindamaður, vísindakona
- vísindamaðurone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- vísindakonaone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Indonesian ilmuwan
- ilmuwanone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Irish eolaí
- eolaíone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Italian scienziato, scienziata
- scienziatoone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- scienziataone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- ricercatoreone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- ricercatriceone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Japanese 科学者
- 科学者 (kagakusha)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
Korean 과학자
- 과학자 (gwahakja)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
Latvian zinātnieks, zinātniece
- zinātnieksone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- zinātnieceone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Lithuanian mokslininkas, mokslininkė
- mokslininkasone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- mokslininkėone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Malay saintis, ahli sains
- saintisone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- ahli sainsone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Māori kaipūtaiao, mātanga pūtaiao
- kaipūtaiaoone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- mātanga pūtaiaoone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- kaimātai (pūtaiao)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
Norwegian Bokmål forsker, vitenskapsmann
- forskerone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- vitenskapsmannone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- vitenskapskvinneone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Polish naukowiec, naukowczyni
- naukowiecone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- naukowczynione whose activities make use of the scientific method
- uczonyone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- uczonaone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Portuguese cientista
- cientistaone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Punjabi ਵਿਗਿਆਨੀ
- ਵਿਗਿਆਨੀ (vigiānī)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
Romanian om de știință, femeie de știință
- om de științăone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- femeie de științăone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- savantone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- savantăone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- învățatone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Russian учёный, учёная
- учёный (učónyj)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
- учёная (učónaja)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
Scottish Gaelic eòlaiche
- eòlaicheone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Slovak vedec, vedkyňa
- vedecone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- vedkyňaone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Spanish científico, científica
- científicoone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- científicaone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Swahili mwanasayansi
- mwanasayansione whose activities make use of the scientific method
Swedish vetenskapsman, forskare
- vetenskapsmanone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- forskareone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- vetenskapskvinnaone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Tagalog dalub-agham, siyentipiko
- dalub-aghamone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- siyentipikoone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Tamil விஞ்ஞானி
- விஞ்ஞானி (viññāṉi)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
Thai นักวิทยาศาสตร์
- นักวิทยาศาสตร์ (nák-wít-tá-yaa-sàat)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
Turkish âlim, âlime
- âlimone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- âlimeone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- bilim adamıone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- bilim insanıone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- bilim kadınıone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- ilim adamı (obsolecent)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
- ilim kadını (obsolecent)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
Ukrainian вче́ний, уче́ний
- вче́ний (včényj)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
- уче́ний (učényj)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
- вче́на (včéna)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
- уче́на (učéna)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
- науко́вець (naukóvecʹ)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
- науко́виця (naukóvycja)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
Urdu عالِم, دانِش مَنْد
- عالِم ('ālim)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
- دانِش مَنْد (dāniś mand)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
- سائِنْسْدان (sāinsdān)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
Vietnamese nhà khoa học, khoa học gia
- nhà khoa họcone whose activities make use of the scientific method
- khoa học giaone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Welsh gwyddonydd
- gwyddonyddone whose activities make use of the scientific method
Yiddish וויסנשאַפֿטלער, וויסנשאַפֿטלערין
- וויסנשאַפֿטלער (visnshaftler)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
- וויסנשאַפֿטלערין (visnshaftlerin)one whose activities make use of the scientific method
Cite this entry
APA
scientist. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scientist
MLA
“scientist.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scientist. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “scientist,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scientist.
Source: scientist on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.