progressist

From progress +‎ -ist.

progressist (plural progressists)

1. Synonym of progressionist (“one who makes or supports progress”).
   • 1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “The Waggons”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 40:

     Gérard Moore, in his double character of semi-foreigner and thorough-going progressist, the man most abominated.

2. Synonym of progressionist (“one who holds that all life forms gradually evolve to a higher form”).

• “progressist”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.