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Glite Dictionary
👩‍⚖️ A rule follower 📏 Strict about rules 🏯 A Legalism supporter
legalist

legalist

9.0
A supporter of ancient Chinese teaching that favors strict laws and strong government control
  • noun
  • /ˈliːɡəlɪst/
  • Specialized
translation icon : legalista
  • Read excerpts from Machiavelli's The Prince and compare his understanding of "realpolitik" with earlier writers like Kautilya and the Qin Legalists such as Han Fei.

Examples

  • This is so in Confucianism as well as in other Chinese schools of thought: Moist, Legalist, or Taoist.

    Academic text (2016)

  • As a legalist, she advocated for strong government control to maintain social order.

  • The legalist believes that a well-ordered society requires strict adherence to laws.

  • During the debate, he identified himself as a legalist, arguing that laws should be followed without exception.

Antonyms

rebel
658 3.6

A person who acts against the government or people in power

lawbreaker
11 3.8

A person who does things that are against the law

Surface Forms

legalist singular
legalists plural

Morphology

legalist = Legalism (transparent) = legal + ist

Derived from the doctrine name 'Legalism' with the suffix '-ist' meaning 'supporter of', so the formation straightforwardly denotes a follower/supporter of Legalism.

Etymology

Legalist is formed from legal ('law') and -ist ('person') and is used for the ancient Chinese school called Legalism. That school argued for strict laws and strong state control, so a legalist here supports harsh rules to keep order.