Spiritualist

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who believes in communication with the dead through mediums or who emphasizes non-material aspects of existence over physical reality
2. a person who seeks contact with deceased spirits through mediums or prioritizes immaterial reality over material existence
3. someone who believes communication with the dead is possible or who stresses the importance of non-physical aspects of being

Etymology: "Spiritualist" is built from "spiritual" plus the suffix "-ist," which marks a person who follows or believes in something. The suffix arrived in English through Old French "-iste" from Latin "-ista," and it originally came from Greek agent suffixes such as "-istēs," used to name practitioners of a craft or doctrine. The base word traces back to Latin "spīritus," meaning "breath" or "breathing," from the verb "spīrāre," "to breathe." That sense of breath as life gave the idea of a soul or vital spirit, and Late Latin "spīrituālis" gave rise to Old French "spirituel," which entered Middle English as "spiritual," meaning relating to the spirit as opposed to the body. The compound "spiritualist" appears in English as a label for someone who holds that the living can communicate with the dead, and this sense grew alongside the spiritualism movement. The broader use, for someone who stresses the non-physical side of existence, developed from the same contrast between spirit and matter.

Synonyms: medium, spiritualist, clairvoyant, psychic, seer

Antonyms: materialist, skeptic, nonbeliever, atheist, realist