PHILOSOPHER • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Philosopher

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/fəlˈɑsəfər/ Listen

noun

Philosopher n.

One who philosophizes; one versed in, or devoted to, philosophy. "Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics, encountered him."

One who reduces the principles of philosophy to practice in the conduct of life; one who lives according to the rules of practical wisdom; one who meets or regards all vicissitudes with calmness.

An alchemist. (Obs.)

Philosopher's stone, an imaginary stone which the alchemists formerly sought as the instrument of converting the baser metals into gold.

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Etymology of 'Philosopher'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Philosopher" Quotes from Famous Books

... the performance, fate and a designing oysterman place you in the next box to three or four of these geniuses, you will, unless very much of a philosopher, be disgusted, for the time being, with human nature. Their paltry imitations, their miserable brayings, their misquotations from Shakspeare, their mendacious accounts of interviews with the "Boy," will be enough to drive you mad. Some such thing as ...

— The Three Brides, Love in a Cottage, and Other Tales • Francis A. Durivage

... hurried her, and that a rigid seclusion from company was productive of a lassitude as little favourable to active virtue as dissipation itself, she resolved to soften her plan, and by mingling amusement with benevolence, to try, at least, to approach that golden mean, which, like the philosopher's stone, always eludes our grasp, yet always ...

— Cecilia Volume 1 • Frances Burney

... who was much of a philosopher, innocently imagined that ere long the lady would forgive and forget him. But what knows a ...

— Mardi: and A Voyage Thither, Vol. I (of 2) • Herman Melville

... Professor was a philosopher. He knew that the human mind craved activity. If it could not be exercised in a useful direction it would invariably spend its energies in dangerous channels. He knew this to be particularly true ...

— The Wonder Island Boys: Exploring the Island • Roger Thompson Finlay

... are indifferent to money because they have some positive purpose which forecloses it. Than the service, there is no other environment which is more conducive to the leading of the full life by the individual who is ready to accept the word of the philosopher that the only security on earth is the willingness to accept insecurity as an inevitable part of living. Once an officer has made this passage into maturity, and is at peace with himself because ...

— The Armed Forces Officer - Department of the Army Pamphlet 600-2 • U. S. Department of Defense

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