societarian, a. and n.
(səʊsaɪɪˈtɛərɪən)
[f. societ-y, after other words in -arian. Cf. F. sociétaire.]
A. adj. Societary; socialistic.
| 1822 Lamb Elia i. Compl. Decay of Beggars, The all⁓sweeping besom of societarian reformation. Ibid., The..caprice of any fellow-creature, or set of fellow-creatures, parochial or societarian. a 1849 H. Coleridge Ess. (1851) II. 19 He could have no sympathy with utilitarian liberaux or societarian philanthropists. 1900 Speaker 3 Feb. 476 The return to Greek societarian ideas is now a commonplace. |
B. n.
1. One who believes in or advocates some form of socialism; a socialist.
| 1842 Nonconformist II. 809 Your communitarians, or societarians of modern days. a 1866 J. Grote Exam. Utilit. Philos. iv. (1870) 62, I should myself be inclined rather to call Mr. Mill a societarian, if we must have new and sectarian words, than an utilitarian. |
2. One who moves in or is a member of fashionable society.
| 1891 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 2 Jan. 2/3 ‘Societarians’ is a new term for the fashionable four hundred. 1893 Cornh. Mag. Sept. 246 Second to none in that varied knowledge required nowadays of the successful societarian. |
Hence socieˈtarianism.
| a 1866 J. Grote Exam. Utilit. Philos. iv. (1870) 71 What I have called his [Mill's] ‘societarianism’ would have been superfluous. |