PROPONENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does proponent mean? 

• PROPONENT (noun)
  The noun PROPONENT has 1 sense:

1. a person who pleads for a cause or propounds an idea

  Familiarity information: PROPONENT used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PROPONENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person who pleads for a cause or propounds an idea

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

advocate; advocator; exponent; proponent

Hypernyms ("proponent" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "proponent"):

secessionist (an advocate of secessionism)

drumbeater; partisan; zealot (a fervent and even militant proponent of something)

partitionist (an advocate of partitioning a country)

Platonist (an advocate of Platonism)

pro-lifer (an advocate of full legal protection for embryos and fetuses; someone opposed to legalized induced abortion)

presenter; sponsor (an advocate who presents a person (as for an award or a degree or an introduction etc.))

protectionist (an advocate of protectionism)

republican (an advocate of a republic (usually in opposition to a monarchy))

ritualist (an advocate of strict observance of ritualistic forms)

ruralist (an advocate of rural living)

nullifier (an advocate of nullification; someone who believes that a state can resist federal laws)

secularist (an advocate of secularism; someone who believes that religion should be excluded from government and education)

separationist; separatist (an advocate of secession or separation from a larger group (such as an established church or a national union))

interpreter; representative; spokesperson; voice (an advocate who represents someone else's policy or purpose)

suffragist (an advocate of the extension of voting rights (especially to women))

admirer; booster; champion; friend; protagonist; supporter (a person who backs a politician or a team etc.)

supremacist (a person who advocates the supremacy of some particular group or racial group over all others)

teleologist (advocate of teleology)

Thatcherite (an advocate of Thatcherism)

unilateralist (an advocate of unilateralism)

irredentist; irridentist (an advocate of irredentism)

constitutionalist (an advocate of constitutional government)

Darwinian (an advocate of Darwinism)

democrat (an advocate of democratic principles)

populist (someone who advocates the rights of the common people over those of the elite)

federalist (an advocate of federalism)

Gnostic (an advocate of Gnosticism)

humanist; humanitarian (an advocate of the principles of humanism; someone concerned with the interests and welfare of humans)

ideologist; ideologue (an advocate of some ideology)

internationalist (an advocate of internationalism)

apologist; justifier; vindicator (a person who argues to defend or justify some policy or institution)

isolationist (an advocate of isolationism in international affairs)

Jansenist (an advocate of Jansenism)

libertarian (an advocate of libertarianism)

Maoist (an advocate of Maoism)

Marxist (an advocate of Marxism)

nationalist (an advocate of national independence of or a strong national government)

neoclassicist (an advocate of neoclassicism)

neutralist (an advocate of neutrality in international affairs)

Derivation:

propound (put forward, as of an idea)

 Context examples 

The health benefits of olives — and associated natural products such as olive oil — have long been recognized and touted by proponents of the Mediterranean diet.

(Health Benefits of Olives and Olive Oil, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Proponents of terraforming Mars propose releasing gases from a variety of sources on the Red Planet to thicken the atmosphere and increase the temperature to the point where liquid water is stable on the surface.

(Mars Terraforming Not Possible Using Present-Day Technology, NASA)