GURU Synonyms: 77 Similar and Opposite Words

guru

noun

ˈgu̇r-(ˌ)ü

Definition of guru

as in expert

a person with a high level of knowledge or skill in a field one of those weather gurus that the television networks always drag out whenever there's a big blizzard brewing

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in practitioner

one who brings an art or science to full realization the leading guru of electronic music in the 1960s

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of guru Another impending free agent, the pitching guru oversaw one of baseball’s best rotations and that aforementioned surprisingly successful bullpen. — Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 8 Oct. 2026 Dean Martin’s classic Stutz bore the license plate DRUNKY, and early fitness guru Jack LaLanne put REDUCE on his Cadillac’s bumpers. — Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 29 Sep. 2026 After countless acid trips, Alpert visited an Indian guru who practiced Bhakti yoga. — Claire Hoffman, Rolling Stone, 21 Sep. 2026 She’s lured to her choice by Ricki, played by Lily James, a charismatic empowerment guru who sees Rita as a mark, and her hauntedness as a source of vulnerability. — Taylor Antrim, Vogue, 19 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for guru

Recent Examples of Synonyms for guru

Noun

Several outside experts agreed with him, calling the methods state-of-the-art.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 24 Oct. 2026
Legal experts have echoed those concerns, noting that relying on the NVRA’s general preamble language to halt state election certification lacks precedent.

— Hugh Son, CNBC, 24 Oct. 2026

Definition of expert

Noun

The health benefits of chair yoga Research on the physical benefits of seated chair yoga has found that practitioners tend to improve their functional fitness and experience a decrease in how much pain interferes with their daily life.

— Jennifer Heimlich, Time, 20 Oct. 2026
That nonprofit group has been building resilience in lower-resource countries for over a decade, dispatching coaches and mentors to educate and train local healthcare students and practitioners as well as building financial and material resources.

— Diane Cole, NPR, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of practitioner

Noun

No one gets out of this world without becoming a master of the art of losing, to invoke the poet Elizabeth Bishop.

— Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2026
Supporting this remarkable local treasure offers a rare chance to experience authentic culinary artistry from a true master.

— Michael Deeds, Idaho Statesman, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of master

Noun

Astaire is the world's foremost exponent of that particular variety of heart throb!

— David Hajdu, Vanity Fair, 20 Oct. 2026
Grupo Duelo, one of the most prominent exponents of norteño tejano music, will be part of the Billboard Latin Music Week 2026, representing traditional regional Mexican music.

— Tere Aguilera, Billboard, 9 Oct. 2026

Definition of exponent

Noun

During that period and beyond, Hawthorne kept a series of notebooks, which scholars see as an important primary source for understanding the ideas and descriptions that informed his early writings and later novels.

— Robert S. Levine, The Conversation, 26 Oct. 2026
For decades, hundreds of thousands of its objects were available only to scholars and curators.

— Rebecca Mead, New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2026

Definition of scholar

Noun

Still, the question of what Ebel was doing with his adepts swept through Prussia, dominating the newspapers that had only recently begun to emerge from their eighteenth-century chronicling of obligations to a more modern publicizing role.

— Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2026
Lest things get predictable, Tasjan’s adept at letting the music battle with the lyrics in a way that hints at how any experience is far more complex than we are led to believe.

— Marissa R. Moss, Rolling Stone, 17 July 2026

Definition of adept

Noun

Composer and piano virtuoso Clara Schumann, whose influence on 19th-century classical music is impossible to quantify.

— Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 22 Oct. 2026
John Mayer is launching his own record label, Sob Rock Records, the singer-songwriter and guitar virtuoso confirmed Thursday, partnering with Universal Music Group’s Mercury Records for the new venture.

— Ethan Millman, HollywoodReporter, 22 Oct. 2026

Definition of virtuoso

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gurgling

guru

gurus

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Style

“Guru.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/guru. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of guru

noun

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