scientist

noun

sci·​en·​tist ˈsī-ən-tist How to pronounce scientist (audio)
1
: a person learned in science and especially natural science : a scientific investigator
2
Scientist : christian scientist

Examples of scientist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Scientists say climate change, caused mainly by burning oil, coal and gas, is making the Mediterranean Sea hotter, bringing hundreds of new and invasive fish species that decimate indigenous populations. — ABC News, 30 July 2026 The cuts disproportionately affect health equity work and underrepresented scientists, hindering understanding of preventable harm and wise action. — Aisha Nyandoro, Forbes.com, 29 July 2026 Jean-Baptiste Filippi, a scientist with the French National Center for Scientific Research who specializes in fire-weather forecasting, says these clouds form when an intense fire interacts with the atmosphere. — Npr's International Desk, NPR, 29 July 2026 Luca Bindi, an earth scientist at the University of Florence in Italy, found the alloy while collecting microscopic debris from along the beaches of Hiroshima Bay. — Mary Randolph, Scientific American, 29 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for scientist

Word History

Etymology

scient- (in Latin scientia "knowledge, science" or in scientific) + -ist entry 1

Note: The word scientist was apparently first introduced by the English polymath William Whewell (1794-1866). The coinage is referred to in an unsigned book review authored by Whewell in The Quarterly Review, vol. 51 (March & June, 1834), pp. 58-59: "The tendency of the sciences has long been an increasing proclivity to separation and dismemberment … The mathematician turns away from the chemist; the chemist from the naturalist; the mathematician, left to himself, divides himself into a pure mathematician and a mixed mathematician, who soon part company; the chemist is perhaps a chemist of electro-chemistry; if so, he leaves common chemical analysis to others; between the mathematician and the chemist is to be interpolated a 'physicien' (we have no English name for him), who studies heat, moisture, and the like. And thus science, even mere physical science, loses all traces of unity. A curious illustration of this result may be observed in the want of any name by which we can designate the students of the knowledge of the material world collectively. We are informed that this difficulty was felt very oppresively by the members of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, in their meetings at York, Oxford, and Cambridge, in the last three summers. There was no general term by which these gentlemen could describe themselves with reference to their pursuits. Philosophers was felt to be too wide and too lofty a term, and was very properly forbidden them by Mr. [Samuel Taylor] Coleridge, both in his capacity of philologer [philologist] and metaphysician; savans was rather assuming, besides being French instead of English; some ingenious gentleman [apparently William Whewell himself] proposed that, by analogy with artist, they might form scientist, and added that there could be no scruple in making free with this termination when we have such words as sciolist, economist and atheist—but this was not generally palatable … ." As Whewell indicates, his coinage was not a success, though, undeterred, he reintroduced it in 1840, and the word seems to have been produced independently of Whewell in the following two decades in both Britain and the United States (where it was more readily accepted). For documentation and details, see Sydney Ross, "Scientist: the story of a word," Annals of Science, vol. 18, no. 2 (June, 1962), pp. 65-85.

First Known Use

1834, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of scientist was in 1834

Phrases Containing scientist

Browse Nearby Words

scientism
scientist
scientistic
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Scientist.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scientist. Accessed 5 Aug. 2026.

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Kids Definition

scientist

noun
sci·​en·​tist ˈsī-ənt-əst How to pronounce scientist (audio)
: a person skilled in science and especially natural science : a scientific investigator

Medical Definition

scientist

noun
sci·​en·​tist ˈsī-ənt-əst How to pronounce scientist (audio)
: a person learned in science and especially natural science : a scientific investigator

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