Luddite

American  

[luhd-ahyt] / ˈlʌd aɪt /

noun

1. a member of any of various bands of workers in England (1811–16) organized to destroy manufacturing machinery, under the belief that its use diminished employment.

2. someone who is opposed or resistant to new technologies or technological change.

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Luddite British  

/ ˈlʌdaɪt /

noun

1. any of the textile workers opposed to mechanization who rioted and organized machine-breaking between 1811 and 1816

2. any opponent of industrial change or innovation

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adjective

1. of or relating to the Luddites

Other Word Forms

• Luddism noun
• Ludditism noun

Etymology

Origin of Luddite

First recorded in 1805–15; supposedly after Ned Ludd, 18th-century Leicestershire worker who in a fit of rage destroyed mechanical knitting machines; -ite ¹

Related Words

• neophobe
• technophobe