Unionists

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A group of individuals advocating for or supporting the creation and maintenance of unions, particularly in labor and political contexts
2. Individuals who promote the interests of unions, often emphasizing collective bargaining and workers' rights within various sectors
3. Members of organizations dedicated to unifying workers or political factions, striving for collaborative action and representation in negotiations and governance

Etymology: "Unionists" is the plural of "unionist," a word built in English from "union" and the suffix "-ist," which denotes a person who adheres to or practises something. The suffix has a long ancestry: it passed into Latin as "-ista" from Greek "-istēs," and from Latin it reached English through Old French "-iste" and Middle English "-ist." Greek itself formed agent nouns with it from verbs ending in "-izein," so a person who practised a thing was called by adding this ending to the thing's name. "Union" carries its own sense of joining things into one, from Latin "unio," meaning oneness or a single unit, and "unus," "one." Attaching "-ist" to it produced a word for a person devoted to joining people together in an organisation. The "union" in question, meaning a formal association of workers, emerged in English in the nineteenth century, and "unionist" followed that sense, so the word describes someone who backs such organisations.

Synonyms: labor union members, activists, organizers, representatives, supporters

Antonyms: non-unionists, opponents, detractors, antagonists, disbelievers