What is an evolutionist? Is Merriam-Webster's dictionary right to have this word as an entry?

The word evolutionist exists in the online Merriam-Webster dictionary.

Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionar鈥?/a>



Is the dictionary in error?



Disclaimer: I'm an atheist and Evolution and Natural Selection are sciences I agree with, so this question is in no way an attempt to discredit Evolution or Natural SelectionWhat is an evolutionist? Is Merriam-Webster's dictionary right to have this word as an entry?
It is a noun or an adjective.



The evolutionist taught evolution.



He had an evolutionist attitude toward the paper.
Any word in common usage will eventually find its way into the dictionary.



An evolutionist is usually someone who agrees that the theory of evolution is valid in providing explanations and accurate predictions on the development of species of living things.



^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^What is an evolutionist? Is Merriam-Webster's dictionary right to have this word as an entry?
I don't have a problem with the word- I've seen it used on sites supporting evolution although I know that creationists use it to try and portray evolution as an ideology.What is an evolutionist? Is Merriam-Webster's dictionary right to have this word as an entry?
If you will read the definitions, not one is a follower of evolution. Only one entry even deals with biological evolution.
yeah, that's weird. "gravitist" and "gravitationist" were not included as entries. hmm...
But you'll notice that they don't define it. Except to say that it is a noun or adjective.
I've never had a big problem with calling or hearing myself called an "evolutionist" in direct contrast to a "creationist", though I don't think of myself as being one.



The suffix "ist" does seem to carry some implication of an "ism" being "faith based", but not enough for me to get excited about it.



It's perfectly communicative of where I stand.
No, the dictionary is 100% accurate.
you have a point. 'evolutionist' should have its own entry, i suggest using a different dictionary!
All it takes to get into the dictionary is common usage -- it doesn't indicate that a word accurately describes anything.



I have no problem with the word "evolutionist," except in the way it's used by fundamentalist christians. Since the "-ist" suffix sometimes indicates "belief" in the root word, christians try to use it to mean somebody who "believes" in evolution -- because their thought system is based on belief and they don't understand logic and reason.



While I'm sure there are people who "believe" in evolution without ever having looked at the evidence, they're certainly in the minority...and "belief" in evolution isn't why the majority accept it as fact.



Peace.
I heard a great show last night, about the utter decay of science and math teaching at the best US colleges and universities.



I think it's fair to say that not 5% of the US college-graduate population could give even an elementary account of Evolution or Natural Selection.



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"The Hollow Core: Failure of the General Education Curriculum," graded 50 colleges and universities on how many of the seven subjects the council considered essential to a liberal arts education -- writing, literature, foreign language, U.S. government or history, math, natural or physical science and economics -- were actually required. Princeton did lousy, a grade of D. But only two Ivy League colleges, Columbia and Dartmouth, did any better, scraping by with a gentleman's Cs.



Two schools, Brown and Vassar, never even tried -- they say for very good reasons -- and got zeroes. Ten schools also earned Fs by requiring only one out of seven subjects: UC-Berkeley, Colgate, Cornell, Iowa State-Ames, Mount Holyoke, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State, Smith and Wisconsin-Madison. Forty eight percent of the 50 schools got Ds and Fs.