[f. as prec. + -IST. Cf. mod.Fr. anarchiste.] One who admits of no ruling power; an advocate or promoter of anarchy; one who upsets settled order.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., 319. That the Egyptians were universally Atheists and Anarchists, such as … resolved all into Sensless Matter as the first and highest Principle.
1791. Bentham, Anarch. Fallac., Wks. 1843, II. 498. The anarchist … denies the validity of the law … and calls upon all mankind to rise up in a mass, and resist the execution of it.
1862. H. Spencer, First Princ., I. i. § 2 (1875), 10. The anarchist who denies the right of any government … to trench upon his individual freedom.
b. attrib. quasi-adj.
1812. Southey, in Q. Rev., VIII. 346. That some of the anarchist writers are in the pay of France.
