Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🚫 Against state control 🚫 A state opponent
antistatist

antistatist

8.9
A person who opposes strong government control and wants less government power
  • noun
  • /ˌæntiˈstætɪst/
  • UK
translation icon : antistatista
  • As an antistatist, she believes that power should be decentralized to enhance citizen autonomy.

Examples

  • Many antistatist advocates argue that government intervention hinders personal freedom.

  • Nor will "statist," even "united statist," serve our purposes; a good many of the citizens of the United States are antistatist.

    Academic text (1990)

  • An antistatist technocratic element rose to prominence, attached to the party's luminaries.

    Academic text (1998)

  • As Senghaas's (1985) analysis of the development of small European countries demonstrates, they share three important characteristics that are at odds with the free market, antistatist model.

    Academic text (1992)

  • The antistatist movement encourages individuals to seek alternatives to government services.

Synonyms

antigovernment
vsantistatist
1 6.5

A person or group that opposes the government

targets central control broadly and supports reducing official intervention
antistate
vsantistatist
8.4

Against the state or its government

opposes centralized control while wanting only minimal public power
antiauthoritarian
vsantistatist
8.2

Not accepting strict control by people in charge

opposes centralized control generally rather than only single-leader dominance
decentralist
vsantistatist
7.3

A person who wants power moved from a central government to local governments

prefers minimal overall intervention rather than more local power distribution

Antonyms

statist
20 8.3

A person who wants the government to control the economy and society

How Controlling

totalitarian
  • Formal
4 8.5
statist
20 8.3
liberal
651 3.9
antistatist
  • UK
8.9
libertarian
178 7.7
anarchist
76 7.0

Surface Forms

antistatist singular
antistatists plural

Morphology

antistatist = statist (transparent) = anti + state + ist

The noun is transparently built from anti- + statist, with the same compositional logic as the adjective use.

Etymology

The word antistatist comes from the prefix anti- meaning 'against' and state meaning 'government'. An antistatist is a person who opposes state control and wants less government involvement.