NIHILISM • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Nihilism

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/nˈaɪəlˌɪzəm/ Listen

Nihilism

noun

A revolutionary doctrine that advocates destruction of the social system for its own sake.

The delusion that things (or everything, including the self) do not exist; a sense that everything is unreal. Synonym: nihilistic delusion.

Complete denial of all established authority and institutions.

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Etymology of 'Nihilism'

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"Nihilism" Quotes from Famous Books

... nonexistence, nonsubsistence; nonentity, nil; negativeness &c. adj.; nullity; nihility[obs3], nihilism; tabula rasa[Lat], blank; abeyance; absence &c. 187; no such thing &c. 4; nonbeing, nothingness, oblivion. annihilation; extinction &c. (destruction) 162; extinguishment, extirpation, Nirvana, obliteration. V. not exist &c. 1; have no existence ...

— Roget's Thesaurus

... fact which did not prevent his dying in the most religious frame of mind possible, well nigh in the odour of sanctity. My tutor was, in truth, of too lofty an intelligence to persevere long in that religious nihilism, that denial of the existence of a future state, which, spreading from religion to family life, and from thence again to the affairs of the State, ends by leaving nothing standing but animal man and his animal passions and appetites. The long death-struggle ...

— Memoirs • Prince De Joinville

... compose my feetur's without any darn nihilism machine back on me," said the captain; which he straightway did in a manner that froze the ...

— Vesty of the Basins • Sarah P. McLean Greene

Words linked to "Nihilism" : philosophical system, lawlessness, school of thought, doctrine, delusion, nihilistic delusion, ism, nihilist, anarchy, philosophy, nihilistic, psychotic belief