Visionist

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Someone who imagines or foresees what might happen in the future
2. An individual who forms mental images or plans of possible future outcomes
3. A person who visualizes or anticipates potential developments ahead

Etymology: "Visionist" is a plain formation: the noun "vision," from Latin "visio" (a seeing, from "videre," to see), with the suffix "-ist," which marks a person who practises or believes in something. Put together, the word names someone who imagines or advocates a particular future, a visionary in the practical sense of one who sketches out how things might be. The suffix does most of the work here. "-ist" has been attached to English nouns for centuries to name adherents of a doctrine or practitioners of an art, as in "artist" or "socialist," so "visionist" slots into an established pattern rather than marking a new coinage. The base word itself has moved from the literal act of seeing to the mental image of what has not yet happened, and the new word carries that shift one step further, from the image to the person who holds it.

Synonyms: dreamer, idealist, futurist, pioneer, innovator

Antonyms: realist, pragmatist, conservative, traditionalist, skeptic