fundamentalist

Etymology

It is formed from English fundamental + -ist.^[1][2][3][4] Fundamental, recorded from 1443, is from Late Latin fundāmentālis (“of the foundation”),^[1][3] from fundāmentum (“foundation”),^[1][2] from fundō (“to found”).^[2] The OED notes that the Protestant sense was apparently popularized by “The Fundamentals”, a series of pamphlets on the central doctrines of Christianity published from 1910 to 1915 under the editorship of A. C. Dixon and R. A. Torrey.^[1] According to Etymonline, it was coined in American English for a Protestant movement founded on the inerrancy of Scripture, and George McCready Price said that Curtis Lee Laws was the first to use it in print.^[2] An isolated adjective of 1829, meaning "basic", was apparently a malapropism for fundamental.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who holds strictly to doctrines and practices regarded as fundamental to Christianity: 1842, in the Catholic Telegraph.^[1] Etymonline dates the noun for Christians to 1913, and the adjective in the religious sense to 1920.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word became prominent in the United States in the early 1920s, when the movement was associated with William Jennings Bryan, among others.^[2] Laws, writing in 1922, described fundamentalism as "a protest against that rationalistic interpretation of Christianity which seeks to discredit supernaturalism".^[2] By 1925 it was applied to strict adherents of other religions, especially Islam.^[1] Non-religious uses developed alongside: a person who holds dogmatically to the basic principles of any doctrine or movement (1913), and in finance an investor who relies on fundamental analysis rather than on market charts (1912).^[1] Merriam-Webster also defines it as an extreme conservative who attacks any departure from doctrines held to be essential.^[3] The adjective is recorded in the religious sense from 1921, and outside religion since 1928.^[1]

Timeline

• 1842 – a person who adheres strictly to the fundamental doctrines of Christianity.^[1] Etymonline dates this use to 1913.^[2]
• 1912 – in finance, an investor relying on fundamental analysis.^[1]
• 1913 – a strict adherent of the basic principles of any subject or movement.^[1]
• 1921 – adjective, relating to religious fundamentalism.^[1] Etymonline dates the adjective to 1920.^[2]
• 1925 – a strict adherent of another religion, especially Islam.^[1]
• 1928 – adjective, outside religion, advocating strict adherence to basic principles.^[1]

Meanings

Noun

1. An adherent of Protestant fundamentalism, which holds the Bible to be literally true and free of error; often capitalized.^[3][1][5]
2. A person who holds strictly to the traditional orthodox doctrines of another religion, especially Islam.^[1][5]
3. A person who adheres strictly or dogmatically to the basic principles of any belief, discipline or movement; an extreme conservative.^[3][1][5]
4. In finance, an investor who forecasts the value of an investment from fundamental analysis.^[1]

Adjective

1. Of, relating to or advocating religious fundamentalism: a fundamentalist preacher.^[3][1]
2. Advocating strict adherence to the basic principles of any subject or movement.^[1][3]

Word family

• antifundamentalist
• nonfundamentalist

Related words

• fundamentalism
• fundamental
• fundament
• found

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins