Dictionary Definition
pamphleteer n : a writer of pamphlets (usually
taking a partisan stand on public issues)
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
(Canada) /ˌpæmfləˈtɪr/Noun
- a writer or publisher of pamphlets, a second-rate
journalist
- 1713: Jonathan Swift, The Journal to Stella
- The Commons are very slow in bringing in their Bill to limit the press, and the pamphleteers make good use of their time; for there come out three or four every day.
- 1891: Oscar Wilde, Intentions
- but Charles Reade, an artist, a scholar, a man with a true sense of beauty, raging and roaring over the abuses of contemporary life like a common pamphleteer or a sensational journalist, is really a sight for the angels to weep over.
- 1713: Jonathan Swift, The Journal to Stella
Extensive Definition
A pamphleteer is a historical term for someone
who creates or distributes pamphlets. Pamphlets were used
to broadcast the writer's opinions on an issue, for example, in
order to get people to vote for their favorite politician or to
articulate a particular political ideology.
A famous pamphleteer of the American
Revolutionary War was Thomas
Paine. Another famous pamphleteer was Witte the
With. Today a pamphleteer might communicate his missives by way
of weblog, but before the
advent of telecommunications, those with access to a printing
press and a supply of paper used the pamphlet as a means of
mass communications outside of newspapers or full-fledged
books.