Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
exoticist

exoticist

9.5
A person who studies, creates, or likes things from other countries
  • noun
  • /ɪɡˈzɒtɪsɪst/
translation icon : exotista
  • As an exoticist, she traveled the world to study the diverse traditions of different cultures.

Examples

  • The exoticist admired the intricate patterns of the foreign textiles on display.

  • The museum curator, an exoticist, highlighted the influence of foreign art in the local exhibitions.

  • It is kind of exoticist, but not enough to cause big problems here.

  • A one-act drama performed in Paris in 1878 entitled La Cigarette capitalized on these exoticist and orientalist associations.

    Academic text (1993)

  • After his visit to the new museum and its opening colloquium, New York Times critic Michael Kimmelman raged against the exoticist, offensive manner in which he saw the "arts premiers" presented.

    Academic text (2006)

  • Furthermore, I contend that understanding these aspects of Stanislas's architecture implicitly challenges the exoticist tendency for fixing and framing culture as an essentialist discourse.

    Academic text (2003)

Synonyms

xenophile
vsexoticist
9.7

A person who likes people and cultures from other countries

focuses on creating, studying, or promoting foreign exotic things rather than personal liking

Antonyms

traditionalist
6 6.5

Holding strongly to old customs and resisting change

Surface Forms

exoticist singular
exoticists plural

Morphology

exoticist = exotic (transparent) = exotic + ist

The agentive suffix '-ist' attaches to the clearly recognized adjective 'exotic' to mean a person associated with or practicing something related to exotic things.

Etymology

The word exoticist comes from exotic, which comes from the Greek root exo- meaning 'from outside', and the ending -ist as in artist or tourist means 'a person'. So an exoticist is someone who studies, makes, or prefers things seen as foreign or 'from outside'.