nihilism
see also: Nihilism
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ˈnaɪ.(h)ɪ.lɪ.z(ə)m/, /ˈnɪ-/, /ˈniː-/, [-(h)ɨ̞-]
  • (GA) IPA: /ˈnaɪ.əˌlɪ.z(ə)m/, /ˈni-/
Noun

nihilism

  1. The view#Noun|view that all endeavours are devoid of objective#Adjective|objective meaning#Noun|meaning.
    • 1906 January–October, Joseph Conrad, chapter II, in The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale, London: Methuen & Co., […], published 1907, OCLC 270548466 ↗; The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale (Collection of British Authors; 3995), copyright edition, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1907, OCLC 1107573959 ↗, page 15 ↗:
      But there was also about him an indescribable air which no mechanic could have acquired in the practice of his handicraft however dishonestly exercised: [...] the air of moral nihilism common to keepers of gambling hells and disorderly houses; [...]
  2. The rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, (inherent or objective) moral principles, legal rule#Noun|rules, etc., often due to the view that life is meaningless (sense 1).
  3. (philosophy) A doctrine ground#Verb|grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life; in particular, the view that nothing in the world actually exists.
  4. (politics) The rejection of non-proven or non-rationalized assertions in the social and political spheres of society.
  5. (psychiatry) A delusion that oneself or the world, or part#Noun|parts thereof, have ceased to exist.
  6. (Russia, politics, historical) Alternative letter-case form of Nihilism#English|Nihilism (“a Russian#Adjective|Russian movement of the 1860s that reject#Verb|rejected all authority and promoted the use#Noun|use of violence for political change#Noun|change”)
Related terms

Translations Translations
Nihilism
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ˈnaɪ.(h)ɪ.lɪ.z(ə)m/, /ˈnɪ-/, /ˈniː-/, [-(h)ɨ̞-]
  • (GA) IPA: /ˈnaɪ.əˌlɪ.z(ə)m/, /ˈni.ə-/
Proper noun
  1. (Russia, politics, historical) A movement of the 1860s that reject#Verb|rejected all authority and promoted the use#Noun|use of violence for political change#Noun|change.
Translations


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