declinist

English

Etymology

From decline +‎ -ist.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈklaɪnɪst/

Noun

declinist (plural declinists)

1. A subscriber to declinism.

   Hypernym: pessimist

   • 2022 June 12, David Edgerton, “Yes, we’re in a bad way. But to wallow in myths of British ‘declinism’ won’t help us thrive”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Rather than accept this, declinists often explained things that did not happen, with explanations that did not work, based on bad history. Thus declinists insist that British R&D has always been low, the City always over-mighty, the country always in the grip of empire, the state under the imaginative control of classicists and historians rather than technocrats, that industry never stood a chance.

Adjective

declinist (comparative more declinist, superlative most declinist)

1. Believing in or tending towards declinism.
   • 2013, Simon Winder, Danubia, Picador, published 2014, page 301:

     Against a background of almost paralytic gloom and declinist talk, Vienna tried to take on Napoleon, breifly bhecked him at Aspern-Essling and then went down to absolute defeat at Wagram […] .

   • 2016 November 14, Tom Engelhardt, “Through the gates of hell: Trump as America's first declinist president”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     As our first declinist candidate for president, Donald J Trump did at least express something new and true about the nature of our country.