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 , altermondialism, Althusserianism , altruism, Americanism, anachronism, anarchism, anarcho-capitalism anarcho-communism, 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-Polonism, 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, bicameralism, 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, eliminativism, elitism, embolism, empiricism, environmental racism, environmentalism, 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, monotropism, 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, pandeism, 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, polymorphism, polytheism, populism, positivism, postcolonialism, post-Freudianism , postimpressionism, post-Keynesianism , postmodernism, poststructuralism, post-Zionism, pragmatism, Presbyterianism, presentism, priapism, primitivism, progressivism, Protestantism, proto-capitalism , Pseudoantidisestablishmentarianism , Psilanthropism, Puseyism
Q
Quakerism, Quietism
R
racism, radicalism, Raelism, raptivism , 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 , Schmederalism , 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, tricameralism, Trinitarianism, tropism, tsarism , Trotskyism, tzarism
U
Ultraintuitionism, Ultraleftism , Ultramontanism, Unificationism, unicameralism, unilateralism, Unitarianism, unitarism, Universalism, uranism , utilitarianism, utopianism
V
vampirism, vandalism, veganism, vegetarianism, Victorianism, Vorticism, voyeurism, vulgarism
W
Wahhabism, Whiggism, Whitlamism , wholism, witticism
X
xenocentrism (edit)
Y
yellow journalism, Yezidism, Yorkism
Z
Zapatism , Zionism, Zoroastrianism, Zwingliism
External link