ism

See also: ISM, -ism, -ism-, and ism.

English

Etymology

From the suffix -ism (“belief”), particularly (in the 19th century) in the sense of "social movement". Compare phobia, from -phobia, sophy, from -sophy, itis, from -itis, and ana, from -ana.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪz.əm/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪzəm

Noun

ism (plural isms)

1. An ideology, system of thought, or practice that can be described by a word ending in -ism.

   Synonym: whateverism

   • 1843, Thomas Carlyle, chapter XV, in Past and Present‎^[1], book 2:

     […] his religion, his worship was like his daily bread to him; — which he did not take the trouble to talk much about; which he merely ate at stated intervals, and lived and did his work upon! This is Abbot Samson’s Catholicism of the Twelfth Century; — something like the Ism of all true men in all true centuries, I fancy! Alas, compared with any of the Isms current in these poor days, what a thing!

   • 1887 August, W[illiam] G[raham] Sumner, “State Interference”, in North American Review:

     If it gives way to sentimentalism, or sensibility, or political mysticism, or adopts an affectation of radicalism, or any other ism, or molds its institutions so as to round out to a more complete fulfillment somebody's theory of the universe, it may fall into an era of revolution and political insecurity […]

   • 1965, Bertram David Wolfe, Marxism, One Hundred Years in the Life of a Doctrine, page 357:

     An ism does not have to possess the fearful implements of state power to cut off a deviant or heretical member.

   • 1969, Walter E. Minchinton, Mercantilism; System Or Expediency?, page xi:

     In his exposition, he has failed to achieve the identification of situation, theory, and policy necessary to create an ism.

   • 1986, John Hughes, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, spoken by Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick):

     Isms in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an ism – he should believe in himself.

   • 1994, Kenneth Kaye, Workplace Wars and How to End Them, page 70:

     It is important to distinguish between an ism and a mere generalization about group differences. Generalizations that have statistical validity are not isms. An ism assumes that the generalization applies to an individual.

2. (specifically) A form of discrimination, such as racism or sexism.

Derived terms

• isms and schisms

Translations

ideology, system of thought or practice

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 主義／主义 (zh) (zhǔyì)

• Faroese: isma f
• Finnish: ismi (fi), oppijärjestelmä (fi)
• German: Ismus (de) m
• Hungarian: izmus (hu)
• Polish: izm (pl) m
• Portuguese: ismo m
• Serbo-Croatian: izam m, изам m

a form of discrimination

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} isme (nl) n
• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} ismo

See also

• ideology
• ist
• philosophy
• wasm

Further reading

• "isms" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 173.

Anagrams

• IMS, IMs, MIS, MIs, MSI, SIM, Sim, mis-, sim

Abinomn

Noun

ism

1. root (of a plant)

Cypriot Arabic

Etymology

Inherited from Arabic اِسْم (ism).

Noun

ism (plural ismát)

1. name

References

• Borg, Alexander (2004) A Comparative Glossary of Cypriot Maronite Arabic (Arabic–English) (Handbook of Oriental Studies; I.70), Leiden and Boston: Brill, page 141

Uzbek

Other scripts
Yangi Imlo	ئسم
Cyrillic	исм‍
Latin	ism‍
Perso-Arabic (Afghanistan)	اسم

Etymology

Inherited from Chagatai اِسْم (ism, “name”), from Classical Persian اِسْم (ism, “name”), from Arabic اِسْم m (ism, “name”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔɪsm/, [ʔsm]

• Hyphenation: ism

Noun

ism (plural ismlar)

1. name
2. (grammar) noun

Declension

Declension of ism

	singular	plural
nominative	ism	ismlar
genitive	ismning	ismlarning
dative	ismga	ismlarga
definite accusative	ismni	ismlarni
locative	ismda	ismlarda
ablative	ismdan	ismlardan
similative	ismdek	ismlardek

Possessive forms of ism

my	singular	plural
nominative	ismim	ismlarim
genitive	ismimning	ismlarimning
dative	ismimga	ismlarimga
definite accusative	ismimni	ismlarimni
locative	ismimda	ismlarimda
ablative	ismimdan	ismlarimdan
similative	ismimdek	ismlarimdek
your	singular	plural
nominative	isming	ismlaring
genitive	ismingning	ismlaringning
dative	ismingga	ismlaringga
definite accusative	ismingni	ismlaringni
locative	ismingda	ismlaringda
ablative	ismingdan	ismlaringdan
similative	ismingdek	ismlaringdek
her/his/its	singular	plural
nominative	ismi	ismlari
genitive	ismining	ismlarining
dative	ismiga	ismlariga
definite accusative	ismini	ismlarini
locative	ismida	ismlarida
ablative	ismidan	ismlaridan
similative	ismidek	ismlaridek
our	singular	plural
nominative	ismimiz	ismlarimiz
genitive	ismimizning	ismlarimizning
dative	ismimizga	ismlarimizga
definite accusative	ismimizni	ismlarimizni
locative	ismimizda	ismlarimizda
ablative	ismimizdan	ismlarimizdan
similative	ismimizdek	ismlarimizdek
your	singular	plural
nominative	ismingiz	ismlaringiz
genitive	ismingizning	ismlaringizning
dative	ismingizga	ismlaringizga
definite accusative	ismingizni	ismlaringizni
locative	ismingizda	ismlaringizda
ablative	ismingizdan	ismlaringizdan
similative	ismingizdek	ismlaringizdek
their	singular	plural
nominative	ismi	ismlari
genitive	ismining	ismlarining
dative	ismiga	ismlariga
definite accusative	ismini	ismlarini
locative	ismida	ismlarida
ablative	ismidan	ismlaridan	similative	ismidek	ismlaridek

Synonyms

• ot
• nom