- equivalent to a combination of -ist and -ic but in some words having a less specific or literal application and sometimes a mildly pejorative force, as compared with corresponding adjectives ending in -ist: communistic, impressionistic
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
-istic,
- a suffix of adjectives (and in the plural, of nouns from adjectives) formed from nouns ending in -ist and having reference to such nouns, or to associated nouns in -ism (deistic;
euphuistic;
puristic). In nouns, it usually has a plural form (linguistics). Cf. -ist, -ic, -ics.
- Latin, as above
- French
- Greek -istikos; in some words, replacing -istique
- Latin -isticus
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
-istic suffix forming adjectives
'-istic' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
altruistic
- anachronistic
- anomalistic
- antienergistic
- atavistic
- cabalistic
- characteristic
- cladistics
- dualistic
- essayistic
- floristic
- futuristic
- harmonistic
- Hellenistic
- heuristic
- holistic
- hypocoristic
- ideaistic
- -ist
- -istical
- logistics
- mediumistic
- modernistic
- naturalistic
- novelistic
- pacifistic
- patristic
- probabilistic
- totalistic
- urbanistic
- simplistic
- socialistic
- statistic
- stylistic
- synergistic