pamphleteer

1 of 2

noun

pam·​phle·​teer ˌpam(p)-flə-ˈtir How to pronounce pamphleteer (audio)
: a writer of pamphlets attacking something or urging a cause

pamphleteer

2 of 2

verb

pamphleteered; pamphleteering; pamphleteers

intransitive verb

1
: to write and publish pamphlets
2
: to engage in partisan arguments indirectly in writings

Did you know?

Pamphlets—unbound printed publications with no covers or with paper covers—are published about all kinds of subjects, but our word pamphlet traces back to one particular document. It derives from the title of a short Latin love poem of the 12th century: Pamphilus, seu De Amore, which can be translated as "Pamphilus, or On Love." The name Pamphilus referred to a Greek god whose name means "loved by all." Following from this, the original pamphlets were handwritten poems, tracts, or treatises, often consisting of several pages bound together. Pamphleteer, which can be both a noun and a verb, combines pamphlet with the -eer suffix found in such words as engineer and puppeteer.

Examples of pamphleteer in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Palmer's narrator, Mycroft Canner, is a paroled mass murderer with an intermittent grip on sanity who writes in the style of an 18th-century pamphleteer, complete with humble appeals to the reader, veiled swipes at censors, and pauses for Socratic dialog. Gregory Barber, Wired, 10 Feb. 2022 Now Corliss Lamont, an American pamphleteer, challenged the law. Anupam Chander, Wired, 21 Sep. 2020 When recounting the music of the Revolutionary period, Meacham and McGraw mostly make do with repurposed hymns; poets, and pamphleteers like Thomas Paine, held far greater sway than did songwriters. Allison Stewart, chicagotribune.com, 11 July 2019
Verb
Bernard Bailyn, the great historian of the pre-revolution politics of the U.S. colonies, showed through a deep reading of colonial pamphleteering that the early Americans were ardently resentful of distant, central authority. Daniel Henninger, WSJ, 12 July 2017

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pamphleteer.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1614, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1698, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of pamphleteer was in 1614

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Dictionary Entries Near pamphleteer

Cite this Entry

“Pamphleteer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pamphleteer. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

pamphleteer

noun
pam·​phle·​teer
ˌpam(p)-flə-ˈti(ə)r
: a writer of pamphlets usually attacking something or urging a cause
pamphleteer verb

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