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proponent

UK/pɹəˈpəʊnənt/US/pɹəˈpoʊnənt/
nounB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,719 of 15,258mostly written

Other forms: proponents

A proponent is somebody who argues in favour of an idea. A leading proponent, proponents of the scheme, an early proponent.

It is the neutral word for a supporter who makes the case, as against an opponent. It belongs to reporting and to academic writing, where naming somebody a proponent describes their position without judging it.

Definitions of proponent

  1. 1nounproponentSomebody who argues in favour of an idea.B2+

    “He is a strong proponent of cycling to work and has not driven for years.”

proponent is a supporter.

Where it comes from

Latin proponens comes from proponere, to put forward, from pro plus ponere, to place.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *tḱey-

  2. Latin

    prōpōnēns

  3. English, today

    proponent

Built from

  • prōpōnō · Latin — to put forward; propose

From Latin prōpōnēns, present participle of prōpōnō (“to put forward; propose”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

proponent in the wild

  • Subsequent scholarship refuted the claim that Bertrand Russell's views on reference theory were the same as Frege's, since Russell was also a proponent of direct reference theory.

    Mediated reference theory

  • The choir has played an important role as an interpreter and a proponent of Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony.

    Cappella Giulia

  • The E-in-C also serves as the proponent for real estate and other science and engineering programs of the Army.

    Engineer-in-Chief (Pakistan Army)

  • Zhuang Cunyu was a Chinese intellectual, and a representative of the Changzhou School of Thought, an important proponent of the New Text Confucianism.

    Zhuang Cunyu

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the prōpōnō family

proposeproposal

proponent — used about once every 15,236 pages · #12,719 · point at the bar for the others