adherent
Americannoun
adjective
Synonym Usage
See follower.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of adherent
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Medieval Latin adhērent-, from Latin adhaerent-, stem of adhaerēns “sticking to,” present participle of adhaerēre “to stick to”; equivalent to adhere + -ent
Explanation
Because an adherent is usually something or someone that sticks to something or someone else, it's logical that it can also mean a person who believes in and supports a certain philosophy or leader. An adherent to a cause can be called a disciple, one who believes and tries to get others to believe. It can also refer to a material that sticks to other things. While the first meaning comes from the 15th century, the reference to a sticky substance didn't emerge until the 16th. In all cases, the word comes from the Latin root haerēre "stick," connected to the prefix ad- "to," making the word mean "to stick to."
Vocabulary lists containing adherent
Things Fall Apart
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Between the World and Me
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The Islamic World and South Asia, Lessons 3–5
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Landor is an adherent of Rastafari, an Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica in the 1930s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
Fellow Rand adherent Martin Anderson recruited Greenspan as an advisor to Richard M. Nixon’s 1968 presidential campaign.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
An adherent of Wahhabism, a conservative and fundamentalist interpretation of Sunni Islam, he hopes to rally a population exhausted by over a decade of conflict.
From Barron's ● Jan. 14, 2026
By the end of the trial, 14 patients had been fully adherent, six were semi-adherent and only one was non-adherent.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 1, 2024
I watched him closely that night, and to me it seemed he was trying to live in both worlds, to be a loyal adherent to all creeds.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
