Wiktionary

devotee

English

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Etymology

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From devote ‎ -ee.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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devotee (plural devotees)

  1. An ardent enthusiast or admirer.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:enthusiast
    He was a devotee of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
    a devotee of classical music
    • 1908 January, John Muir, “Hetch Hetchy Valley”, in Sierra Club Bulletin‎[1]:
      These temple destroyers, devotees of ravaging commercialism, seem to have a perfect contempt for Nature, and, instead of lifting their eyes to the God of the mountains, lift them to the Almighty Dollar.
  2. (religion) A believer in a particular religion or god.
    devotees of Krishna
    devotees thronged the temple
    • 1913, Ernest Wilson Clement, A Handbook of Modern Japan, page 253:
      It has been said that a Japanese is a Shintōist in life and a Buddhist at death; and it is also true that he may be during life, at one and the same time, a devotee of both.
  3. (slang) (Can we verify( ) this sense?) A person (almost exclusively a man) with a sexual fetish for people with physical disabilities, especially amputees.
    • 2004, Alison Kafer, “Inseparable: Gender and disability in the amputee-devotee community”, in Gendering Disability, page 108:
      The amputee-devotee community, consisting of women with amputations and the men sexually attracted to them, has been widely discussed within the disability community.
    • 2019, Ann Millett-Gallant, “Basilisk and the Representation of Physically Disabled Women in Film”, in Contemporary Art and Disability Studies:
      He becomes involved in a story about a community of wannabes and devotees, those who desire to be sexually intimate with disabled bodies, and meets Fiona, an art conservator and wannabe, or disabled pretender.
    • 2022, Thomas J. Gerschick, “The body, disability, and sexuality”, in Introducing the New Sexuality Studies: Original Essays, 4th edition:
      One of the paradoxical issues facing people with disabilities are "devotees": temporarily able-bodied people who are attracted to them because of their disabilities. […] Although some women with disabilities experience a positive effect, devotee forums and websites simultaneously sexually objectify women with disabilities.

Derived terms

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Translations

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