conspiracist

English

Etymology

From conspiracy +‎ -ist.

Noun

conspiracist (plural conspiracists)

1. A person who puts forward a conspiracy theory.

   Synonym: conspiracy theorist

   • 2006 May 4, David Brooks, “The Paranoid Style”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     [Kevin] Phillips's method is pretty conventional for conspiracists – he takes a single issue or set of data points and constructs an all-explaining story line to show how hidden cabals are controlling America.

   • 2020, Marcus Gilroy-Ware, After the Fact?, Repeater, →ISBN:

     As this business model developed, InfoWars’ shows, hosted by an array of conspiracists alongside [Alex] Jones, such as British conspiracist Paul Joseph Watson, became increasingly punctuated by ad breaks and product placement, in a way that one journalist described as like “the QVC for racist uncles” (Lamoureux, 2017).

Adjective

conspiracist (comparative more conspiracist, superlative most conspiracist)

1. Related to conspiracy theories.
   • 2020, Marcus Gilroy-Ware, After the Fact?, Repeater, →ISBN:

     The conspiracist worldview that presumes a wholly designed universe is similar, and with a conspiracy theory, the holder of the belief in some ways imagines themselves as the detective or investigator, […]

Further reading

• “conspiracist”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “conspiracist”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.