/fil"euh sof', fil'euh zof"/ ; Fr. /fee law zawf"/ , n. , pl. philosophes /-sofs', -zofs"/ ; Fr. /-zawf"/ .
1. any of the popular French intellectuals or social philosophers of the 18th century, as Diderot, Rousseau, or Voltaire.
2. a philosophaster.
[ 1770-80; ]