Integrationist

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. a person who advocates for the combining of separate groups or systems into a unified whole, especially regarding racial or social equality
2. someone who supports the merging of distinct communities or institutions to eliminate segregation and promote unified functioning
3. an advocate for bringing together previously separated elements or populations into an integrated and cohesive system

Etymology: "Integrationist" is built from "integration" plus the suffix "-ist", which marks a person who holds to or promotes a particular doctrine or practice. The suffix has a long pedigree: it passed into English through Middle English and Old French from Latin "-ista", which in turn came from Ancient Greek "-ιστής" ("-istēs"), a suffix forming agent nouns from verbs ending in "-izein" and similar stems. So the ending carries the sense of "one who does" or "one who adheres to" in every language it has passed through. The base word, "integration", comes from Latin "integrare", "to make whole", from "integer", meaning "whole" or "untouched." An integrationist, then, is literally a person devoted to making separate parts into a single whole, which is exactly the sense of "promoter of unity" that the word carries in English.