-ism
The English suffix -ism was first used to form a noun of action from a verb, as in baptism, from baptein, a Greek word meaning "to dip". Its usage was later extended to signify systems of belief.
The first recorded usage of the suffix ism as a separate word in its own right was in 1680. By the nineteenth century it was being used by Thomas Carlyle to signify a pre-packaged ideology. It was later used in this sense by such writers as Julian Huxley and George Bernard Shaw.
In the present day, it appears in the title of a standard survey of political thought, Today's ISMS by William Ebenstein, first published in the 1950s, and now in its 11th edition.
The -ism suffix can be used to express the following concepts:
- doctrine, theory or religion (e.g. pacifism)
- theory developed by an individual (e.g. Marxism)
- political movement (e.g. feminism)
- action, process or practice (e.g. terrorism)
- characteristic, quality or origin (e.g. heroism)
- state or condition (e.g. pauperism)
- excess or disease (e.g. botulism)
- prejudice or bias (e.g. racism)
- characteristic speech patterns (e.g. Yogiism)
What follows is a list of words that have the -ism suffix. This list should not include words like prism and schism which end in -ism but have no etymological connection with -ism words.
A
ableism, abolitionism, absenteeism, absolutism, abstract expressionism, absurdism, activism, adoptionism, adultism, Afrocentrism, ageism, agnosticism, agorism, agrarianism, alarmism, Albigensianism, albinism, alcoholism, all-Americanism, Althusserianism, altruism, Americanism, anarchism, anarcho-capitalism, anarcho-syndicalism, aneurysm or aneurism, Anglicanism, Anglicism, animalism, animal magnetism, animism, anthropocentrism, anthropomorphism, anti-Americanism, anti-abolitionism, anticlericalism, antidisestablishmentarianism, anti-imperialism, anti-intellectualism, antinomianism, anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, Apollinarism, archaism, Arianism, Aristotelianism, atavism, atheism, Atlanticism, atomism, Atticism, attitudinism, Augustinism, Australianism, authoritarianism, autism, Averroism
B
Ba'athism, Babaism, Bábísm Bagism, Bahá'ísm, baalism, baptism, behaviorism, Benthamism, Big Brotherism, bilateralism, bilingualism, bimetallism, bjjism, bipedalism, Blairism, bogyism, bohemianism, Bolshevism, Bonapartism, bonism, boosterism, bossism, botulism, breatharianism, bromism, brutalism, brutism, bruxism, Buchmanism, Buddhism, Bukharinism, Bullism, Bushism
C
Caesaropapism, cambism, Calvinism, Caodaism, capitalism, careerism, Carlism, Cartesian dualism, Cartesianism, Castroism, Catharism, Catholicism, centralism, centrism, charlatanism, Chartism, Chassidism, chauvinism, checkbook journalism, chemism, classicism, clintonism, clericalism, Clitorism, clonism, cognitivism, coherentism, collectivism, colonialism, communism, compassionate conservatism, Comtism, conformism, conformitarianism, Confucianism, consequentialism, conservatism, Conservative Judaism, contextualism, contrarianism, constructivism, consumerism, corealism, Coreanism, corporatism, cosmism, cosmopolitanism, cosmotheism, creationism, criticism, cronyism, cubism, cultism, cultural relativism, cynicism, czarism
D
Dadaism, Daoism, Darwinism, deconstructivism, decontextualism, defeatism, deism, deontologism, decentralism, despotism, determinism, deviatonism, Discordianism, disestablismentarianism, Docetism, dodoism, dogmatism, Donatism, do-goodism, do-nothingism, druidism, dualism, dwarfism, dynamism
E
echoism, Edwardianism, effeminism, egocentrism, egoism, electromagnetism, elitism, embolism, empiricism, environmentalism, environmental racism, epicureanism, Episcopalianism, erotism, essentialism, etatism, ethnic nationalism, ethnocentrism, Eudemonism, Eurocentrism, Eurocommunism, evolutionism, existentialism, exotism, expansionism, expressionism, extremism, extrinsicism, extropism
F
fabianism, faddism, Falangism, fanaticism, fascism, fatalism, Fauvism, federalism, feminism, Fenianism, fetishism, feudalism, fideism, finitism, fogeyism, Food faddism, foot-fetishism, Fordism, formalism, foundationalism, Francoism, freeganism, functionalism (philosophy of mind), functionalism (sociology), fundamentalism
G
Gallicism, Gaullism, gay liberationism, geocentrism, Geoism, Georgianism, Georgism, Germanism, gigantism, globalism, Goreism, Gnosticism, gradualism, Grundyism
H
Hacktivism, Hassidism, hedonism, Hegelianism, heightism, heliocentrism, Hellenism, henotheism, heroism, heterosexism, heterosexualism, Hinduism, hirsutism, historicism, Hitlerism, Hobbesianism, hoboism, homoousianism, homosexualism, Horthyism, hucksterism, humanism, Hussitism, hypnotism
I
idealism, idolism, imagism, imperialism, impressionism, individualism, instructivism, intellectualism, internationalism, interventionism, intrinsicism, independentism, irenicism, irredentism, Islamism, isolationism
J
Jacobinism, Jacobitism, Jainism, Jansenism, Japonism, jingoism, journalism, Judaism, jujuism, juridical positivism
K
Kantianism, kathenotheism, Keynesianism, Khrushchevism without Khrushchev, Know-Nothingism
L
laborism, laicism, lamaism, Lamarckianism, Lancastrianism, leftism, left-liberalism, legalism, legal positivism, Leninism, lesbianism, liberalism, libertarianism, Linuxism, localism, locoism, logical positivism, Lollardism, Lutheranism, lycanthropism
M
magnetism, malapropism, Manichaeanism, Maoism, Marxism, Marxism-Leninism, masculism, Masochism, materialism, maximalism, McCarthyism, mechanism, Medism, melanism, Menshevism, mesmerism, metabolism, Methodism, militarism, millennialism, minarchism, minimalism, Mithraism, modalism, Modernism, Mohammedanism, Monarchianism, monarchism, monetarism, Mongolism, monism, monolatrism, Monophysitism, monotheism, moral absolutism, moralism, moral positivism, moral relativism, Mormonism, multiculturalism, multilateralism, mysticism
N
narcissism, nationalism, National Socialism, nativism, naturalism, naturism, Nazism, negativism, neo-classicism, neoconservatism, neo-Darwinism, neopaganism, neoplatonism, neoclassicism, neoclassicism (music), neo-romanticism, neoromanticism (music), nepotism, Nestorianism, nihilism, nomianism, non-consequentialism, non-interventionism, nonsituationism, nudism, nullificationism
O
obelism, objectivism, occultism, ogreism, onanism, ontologism, optimism, oralism, Orangism, organism, orientalism
P
Pabloism, pacifism, paganism, paleoconservatism, pan-Africanism, pan-Arabism, panentheism, pantheism, pan-Germanism, pan-Slavism, pantheism, papism, patriotism, Patripassianism, Pelagianism, Pentecostalism, peonism, perennialism, Peronism, personalism, pessimism, phallocentrism, pharaonism, phenomenalism, philhellenism, philistinism, panism, pietism, Pilgerism, plagiarism, playganism, platonism, plenism, pointillism, political absolutism, polycentrism, polytheism, populism, positivism, postcolonialism, post-Freudianism, postimpressionism, post-Keynesianism, postmodernism, poststructuralism, post-Zionism, pragmatism, Presbyterianism, priapism, primitivism, progressivism, Protestantism, proto-capitalism, Pseudoantidisestablishmentarianism, Psilanthropism, Puseyism
Q
R
racism, radicalism, Raelism, raptivism, Rastafarianism, rationalism, reactionarism, Reaganism, realism, recidivism, redneckism, reductionism, regionalism, relativism, reliabilism, republicanism, Republicanism, revanchism, revisionism, rheumatism, rightism, Roman Catholicism, romanticism, Rosicrucianism, Rousseauism, rugged individualism
S
Sabbatarianism, Sabellianism, sadism, sado-masochism, Saint-simonism, Salvationism, Sandinism, sanism, Sapphism, Satanism, scepticism, Schachtmanism, scholasticism, Scientism, Scotticism, sectarianism, sectionalism, secularism, sedevacantism, sensualism, separatism, sesquipedalianism, sexism, shamanism, Shiism, Shintoism, Sikhism, Situationism, sizism, skepticism, slumism, social Darwinism, social realism, socialism, socialist realism, Socianism, solecism, sophism, sovereigntism, Sparticism, speciesism, Spenglerism, spiritism, spiritualism, Spoonerism, Stalinism, standpatism, stasism, statism, stoicism, structuralism, Sufism, surrealism, syllogism, symbolism, syndicalism, syncretism
T
tachism, Taoism, Taylorism, terrorism, Thatcherism, theism, Thomism, Titoism, Toryism, tourism, totalitarianism, transcendentalism, transgenderism, transhumanism, transsexualism, transsubstantiationism, transvestism, tribalism, Trinitarianism, tropism, tsarism, Trotskyism, tzarism
U
Ultraintuitionism, Ultraleftism, Ultramontanism, Unificationism, unilateralism, Unitarianism, unitarism, Universalism, uranism, utilitarianism, utopianism
V
vampirism, vandalism, veganism, vegetarianism, Victorianism, Vorticism, voyeurism, vulgarism
W
Wahhabism, Whiggism, Whitlamism, wholism, witticism
X
Y
yellow journalism, Yezidism, Yorkism
Z
Zapatism, Zionism, Zoroastrianism, Zwingliism