1846, from industrial + -ist. Perhaps modeled on French industrialiste (Saint-Simon, 1823). Earlier "one who makes a living by productive industry" (1837).
Entries linking to industrialist
industrial adj.
1774, "resulting from labor," from French industriel, from Medieval Latin industrialis, from Latin industria "diligence, activity" (see industry). There is an isolated earlier used in the same sense from 1580s, from Latin industria.
The main modern meaning "pertaining to the manufacture of commodities, connected with the application of industry to manufactures" is from 1830, from a sense in French.
Meaning "suitable for industrial use" is from 1904. As a style of dance music, attested from 1988. Industrial revolution was in use by 1840 to refer to what were then recent developments and changes in England and elsewhere.
-ist
word-forming element meaning "one who does or makes," also used to indicate adherence to a certain doctrine or custom, from French -iste and directly from Latin -ista (source also of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian -ista), from Greek agent-noun ending -istes, which is from -is-, ending of the stem of verbs in -izein, + agential suffix -tes.
Variant -ister (as in chorister, barrister) is from Old French -istre, on false analogy of ministre. Variant -ista is from Spanish, popularized in American English 1970s by names of Latin-American revolutionary movements.