CONSERVATIONIST

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does conservationist mean? 

• CONSERVATIONIST (noun)
  The noun CONSERVATIONIST has 1 sense:

1. someone who works to protect the environment from destruction or pollution

  Familiarity information: CONSERVATIONIST used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONSERVATIONIST (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone who works to protect the environment from destruction or pollution

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

conservationist; environmentalist

Hypernyms ("conservationist" is a kind of...):

crusader; meliorist; reformer; reformist; social reformer (a disputant who advocates reform)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "conservationist"):

Green (an environmentalist who belongs to the Green Party)

tree hugger (derogatory term for environmentalists who support restrictions on the logging industry and the preservation of forests)

Instance hyponyms:

Carson; Rachel Carson; Rachel Louise Carson (United States biologist remembered for her opposition to the use of pesticides that were hazardous to wildlife (1907-1964))

Barbara Ward; Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth; Ward (English economist and conservationist (1914-1981))

Derivation:

conservation (the preservation and careful management of the environment and of natural resources)

conservation (an occurrence of improvement by virtue of preventing loss or injury or other change)

 Context examples 

The findings are a warning to conservationists that keeping a small pool of endangered animals could result in inbreeding and genomic meltdown.

(Genetic ‘Mutational Meltdown’ Doomed Woolly Mammoths, VOA)

Instead, conservationists should combine the counts with an assessment of ecosystem services that the species deliver.

(Diverse Bee Communities Best for Apple Orchards, U.S. Department of Agriculture)

Conservationists have collected hundreds of amphibian species threatened by the fungus and are maintaining them in captivity with the hope of re-establishing them in the wild.

(Amphibians can acquire resistance to deadly fungus, NSF)

In a paper called Reciprocal signaling in honeyguide-human mutualism, Dr Claire Spottiswoode and co-authors (conservationists Keith Begg and Dr Colleen Begg of the Niassa Carnivore Project) reveal that honeyguides are able to respond adaptively to specialised signals given by people seeking their collaboration, resulting in two-way communication between humans and wild birds.

(How humans and wild Honeyguide birds call each other to help, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)