Dictionary

constructionist en · ADJ

Etymology

Etymology tree English construction Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek -ῐστής (-ĭstḗs)bor. Latin -istader. Old French -istebor. Middle English -ist English -ist English constructionist From construction + -ist.

Meanings

1. Of, pertaining to, or advocating constructionism.
   • According to the constructionist approach that dominates queer scholarship, homosexuality and heterosexuality are not essential aspects of the self (biological or otherwise), but culturally and historically specific classifications used to explain and regulate sexuality and to produce docile sexual subjects. 2015, Jane Ward, Not Gay, New York University Press, →ISBN, page 97:

Forms

constructionist en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree English construction Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek -ῐστής (-ĭstḗs)bor. Latin -istader. Old French -istebor. Middle English -ist English -ist English constructionist From construction + -ist.

Meanings

1. An advocate of constructionism.
   • Aristotle claimed that people were by nature political animals, thus inaugurating the essentialist argument for the state. The constructionists similarly believe that the modern state is an overriding necessity, a built-in impulse that cannot be resisted any more than the St. Laurence River making its way to the sea. 1988 April 9, Charley Shively, “Canada, Oh Canada!”, in Gay Community News, page 8:
2. One who puts a certain construction upon some writing or instrument, such as the United States Constitution.
   • a strict constructionist; a broad constructionist
3. (obsolete) One who works in construction.
   • The gap that remains in the interior will no doubt be eventually bridged over by railway communication; and thus the great continent will no longer be a terra incognita to the general world, who have hitherto only heard of the splendid country through which the railway will pass, from the reports of telegraph constructionists and overlanding parties. 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 242:

Forms

Deriveds

loose constructionist · social constructionist · strict constructionist