Indifferentist

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who is unconcerned with the merits of various beliefs and remains impartial in discussions about differing philosophies or ideologies
2. An individual who neither supports nor opposes any particular ideology, showing a general apathy towards contrasting beliefs and opinions
3. Someone who shows no preference or strong feeling about different beliefs or ideas

Etymology: "Indifferentist" is a plain English formation: the adjective "indifferent" with the suffix "-ist," which marks a person who holds or follows a particular doctrine or attitude. Its first half is itself built from Latin. "Indifferent" comes from "indifferens," made of "in-" (not) and "differens," the present participle of "differre," meaning "to carry apart" or "to differ." So the root idea is something that does not carry a distinction, a thing that does not set one way against another. The suffix has a longer pedigree. It descends from Greek forms ending in "-istēs," used for agents and adherents, passed into Latin as "-ista," then reached English through Old French "-iste" and Middle English "-ist." Combined with "indifferent," the suffix turned an adjective describing a lack of preference into a noun naming someone who adopts that stance as a principle.

Synonyms: apathetic, disinterested, uninvolved, neutral, nonchalant

Antonyms: passionate, engaged, committed, invested, concerned