Dictionary

reformer en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree English reform Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English reformer From reform + -er.

Meanings

1. One who reforms, or who works for reform.
   • Among the frontrunners before the conclave began were Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state; Luis Antonio Tagle, a reformer from the Philippines; Péter Erdő, a traditionalist from Hungary; Robert Sarah, a cardinal from Guinea who criticised Francis’s papacy; and the moderate US cardinal Robert Prevost. 2025 May 8, Angela Giuffrida and Harriet Sherwood, “White smoke from Sistine Chapel chimney signals election of new pope”, in The Guardian:
2. (historical) One who was involved in the Reformation.
   • […] for I long to ſee a larke without a creaſt, and would travaile farre to diſcoover a reformer without a fault, […] 1593, Gabriell Haruey [i.e., Gabriel Harvey], Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. A Preparative to Certaine Larger Discourses, Intituled Nashes S. Fame, London: […] Iohn Wolfe, →OCLC; republished as John Payne Collier, editor, Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. […] (Miscellaneous Tracts. Temp. Eliz. & Jac. I; no. 8), [London]: [s.n.], [1870], →OCLC, page 127:
3. (qualifier:chemical engineering; fuel cells; chemical engineering; fuel cells) A device which converts hydrocarbons into a hydrogen-rich mixture of gases.
   • The fuel reformer works somewhat like catalytic converters in cars. In the gasoline reformer, vaporized gasoline is mixed with steam and air before traveling through a cylinder packed with the new Argonne catalyst. The result is a hydrogen-rich gas that is further processed in subsequent chemical steps and is then fed to the fuel cell. 2004, Evelyn Brown, “Argonne tests and creates the fuel cells to power the future”, in Evelyn Brown, editor, Logos, volume 22, number 1, page 15:
4. A device used to convert petroleum refinery naphthas, typically having low octane ratings, into high-octane liquid products called reformates.
   • Deisohexanizer bottoms are routed to the continuous reformer, where the octane of the stream is upgraded chiefly by conversion of naphthenes and paraffins to high octane aromatic compounds. 1979 December 14, Alaska Petrochemical Company, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Draft[:] Environmental Impact Statement, page 29:

Forms

Antonyms

traditionalist (antonym(s) of “one who reforms”)

Deriveds

antireformer · spelling reformer · counterreformer · reformeress · catalytic reformer

Translations (41)

de Reformerin (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · sw mwanamageuzi (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · ms pembaharu (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · cs reformátor (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · gv aachrootagh (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · sv reformator (one who was involved in the Reformation) · bg реформа́тор (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · ru реформа́тор (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · gd ath-leasachair (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · pl reformator (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · ja 改革家 (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · ms reformis (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · ar مُصْلِح (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · ja リフォーマー (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · kk реформатор (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · nn reformator (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · sk reformátor (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · nl hervormer (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · ka რეფორმატორი (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · hu reformátor (one who was involved in the Reformation) · nl hervormer (one who was involved in the Reformation) · nl hervormster (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · sv reformator (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · pl reformatorka (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · de Reformer (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · gd leasachair (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · fi uudistaja (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · ga leasaitheoir (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · ko 개혁가 (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · de Reformator (one who was involved in the Reformation) · uk реформа́тор (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · de Reformatorin (one who was involved in the Reformation) · la refōrmātor (one who was involved in the Reformation) · nb reformator (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · da reformator (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · la refōrmātor (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · mk реформа́тор (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · be рэформа́тар (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · cmn 改革家 (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · kk реформалаушы (one who reforms, or who works for reform) · tl tagamulinyo (one who reforms, or who works for reform)