Elitist means favouring a select few over everybody else. An elitist system, elitist attitudes, dismissed as elitist.
It is always an accusation, and it is thrown at institutions and at tastes alike. The charge is worth examining each time, since it is used both against real exclusion and against anything demanding.
1adjectiveelitistFavouring a select few over everybody else.
“Critics called the private club elitist because it only accepted the very rich.”
elitist is a quality.
Proto-Indo-European
*leǵ-
Old French
eslit
Middle English
elit
English
elite
English, today
elitist
Built from
From elite + -ist. elite comes from Middle English elit, from Old French eslit. From Middle English elit, from Old French elit, eslit (“chosen, elected”) past participle of elire, eslire (“to choose, elect”), from Latin eligere (“to choose, elect”), with past participle electus; see elect.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA