Synonyms for do-gooder
| Grammar : Noun |
| Spell : doo-goo d-er, -goo d- |
| Phonetic Transcription : ˈduˈgʊd ər, -ˌgʊd- |
Définition of do-gooder
Origin :- "a person who seeks to correct social ills in an idealistic, but usually impractical or superficial, way," 1650s (as do-good), in "Zootomia, or Observations on the Present Manners of the English: Briefly Anatomizing the Living by the Dead. With An Usefull Detection of the Mountebanks of Both Sexes," written by Richard Whitlock, a medical doctor. Probably used even then with a taint of impractical idealism. Modern pejorative use seems to have begun on the socialist left, mocking those who were unwilling to take a hard line. OED has this citation, from "The Nation" in 1923:
- There is nothing the matter with the United States except ... the parlor socialists, up-lifters, and do-goods.
- The form do-gooder appears in American English from 1927, presumably because do-good was no longer felt as sufficiently noun-like. A slightly older word for this was goo-goo.
- noun idealist
Words or expressions associated with your search
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Most wanted synonyms
Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019