Remainers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A group of individuals who choose to continue their participation or support in a certain context, especially in political matters
2. People who advocate for maintaining particular relationships, values, or systems rather than abandoning them
3. Individuals who express a preference for remaining in a specific union or arrangement, often in contrast to those favoring departure

Etymology: "Remainers" is the plural of "remainer", a word built from "remain" and the agent suffix "-er", so it names people who remain. The sense that matters here, of people who choose to stay in a union or arrangement as opposed to leaving it, grew up in the political debates of the last decade, most famously around Britain's membership of the European Union. The verb underneath it has a longer and more tangled past. "Remain" comes from a variant of Old French "remaindre", which descends from Latin "remanere", meaning to stay behind, with "re-" suggesting staying put or lingering and "manere" meaning to stay. Old French thus carried the idea of staying on in a place into English, where the verb settled into the everyday sense of continuing in the same state or location.

Synonyms: stayers, holdouts, persistents, continuers, survivors

Antonyms: leavers, departures, quitters, withdrawers, abandoners