Rallyist

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Someone who attends, speaks at, or helps organize a public rally in support of a cause or political figure
2. A participant in a mass gathering held to promote a cause, often a political campaign or demonstration
3. A person who actively joins or leads a public demonstration or assembly to advocate for a particular goal

Etymology: "Rallyist" is a plain formation: the noun "rally," meaning a mass gathering held to support a cause, with the suffix "-ist" added to name a person who takes part in or supports such a cause. The suffix "-ist" comes from Greek "-istes," which marks someone who practises or is devoted to something, as in "activist" or "pianist." Attaching it to "rally" produces a label for a person who turns up to rallies and champions a movement. The base word has its own shift. "Rally" comes from French "rallier," meaning to reunite or bring back into order, and originally in English it referred to gathering scattered troops. Its sense of a public demonstration came much later, so the modern noun carries a military idea of regrouping that has been turned toward political and civic causes.

Synonyms: rally driver