Communitarian

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /kəˌmjuː.nɪˈtɛəɹi.ən/

Definitions

1. A person who advocates for the importance of community in fostering mutual support and cooperation over individualistic approaches
2. An individual that emphasizes the role of communal values in organizing social interactions and prioritizing collective well-being
3. Someone who promotes organizing society around shared community values and interpersonal bonds rather than just individual gain ; a proponent of placing group needs and cooperative living above personal interests

Etymology: "Communitarian" is built from "community" and the suffix "-arian," which forms adjectives and nouns meaning someone who holds to or follows a particular doctrine or practice, as in "humanitarian" or "vegetarian." The word first appeared in English around 1910, a date that places it in the same period as many other social and political terms coined as industrial societies were debating how individuals related to the groups around them. The "community" at its root comes from Latin "communitas," meaning fellowship or shared obligation, itself rooted in "communis," meaning common or shared. The adjective therefore carries the idea of a commitment to shared life over individual advantage, which is what the modern definition of putting community first expresses.

Synonyms: collectivist, socialist, communal

Antonyms: individualist, libertarian