luddite Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun any opponent of technological progress
  2. noun one of the 19th century English workmen who destroyed laborsaving machinery that they thought would cause unemployment

WordNet


Lud"dite noun
Definitions
  1. One of a number of riotous persons in England, who for six years (1811-17) tried to prevent the use of labor-saving machinery by breaking it, burning factories, etc.; -- so called from Ned Lud, a half-witted man who some years previously had broken stocking frames. J. & H. Smith. H. Martineau.

Webster 1913