Truthers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. People who champion alternative explanations of official events, especially conspiracy theories that dispute the accepted account
2. Adherents who insist that a widely accepted public event was secretly orchestrated, rejecting the official version of what happened
3. Groups or individuals who push disputed accounts of major incidents, often claiming that governments or institutions concealed the real facts

Etymology: "Truthers" is the plural of "truther," and the plural is what gives the word its modern punch. The singular was built from "truth" plus the suffix "-er," which can mark a person who does or supports something. In its first sense the suffix works as an occupational ending, so a "truther" was simply someone devoted to the truth. Over time the word took on a second meaning tied to a specific movement, and that sense is the one most people now hear. That later meaning comes directly from the name of the 9/11 Truth movement, a group of people who dispute the official account of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Here the "-er" ending reads as "supporter," so a truther is a person who backs that movement's claims. The word thus runs from a general label for a seeker of truth to a label for a particular set of believers, with the suffix carrying the shift in both cases.